INNUENDOING

Verb

innuendoing

present participle of innuendo

Source: Wiktionary


INNUENDO

In`nu*en"do, n.; pl. Innuedoes(. Etym: [L., by intimation, by hinting, gerund of innuere, innutum, to give a nod, to intimate; pref. in- in, to + -nuere (in comp.) to nod. See Nutation.]

1. An oblique hint; a remote allusion or reference, usually derogatory to a person or thing not named; an insinuation. Mercury . . . owns it a marriage by an innuendo. Dryden. Pursue your trade of scandal picking; Your innuendoes, when you tell us, That Stella loves to talk with fellows. Swift.

2. (Law)

Definition: An averment employed in pleading, to point the application of matter otherwise unintelligible; an interpretative parenthesis thrown into quoted matter to explain an obscure word or words; -- as, the plaintiff avers that the defendant said that he (innuendo the plaintiff) was a thief. Wharton.

Note: The term is so applied from having been the introductory word of this averment or parenthetic explanation when pleadings were in Latin. The word "meaning" is used as its equivalent in modern forms.

Syn.

– Insinuation; suggestion; hint; intimation; reference; allusion; implication; representation; -- Innuendo, Insinuation. An innuendo is an equivocal allusion so framed as to point distinctly at something which is injurious to the character or reputation of the person referred to. An insinuation turns on no such double use of language, but consists in artfully winding into the mind imputations of an injurious nature without making any direct charge.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

10 June 2025

COMMUNICATIONS

(noun) the discipline that studies the principles of transmiting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc.); “communications is his major field of study”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the most massive cup of coffee contained 22,739.14 liters and was created by Alcaldía Municipal de Chinchiná (Colombia) at Parque de Bolívar, Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia, on 15 June 2019. Fifty people worked for more than a month to build this giant cup. The drink prepared was Arabic coffee.

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