[ noun ] an indirect (and usually malicious) implication <noun.communication>
Innuendo \In`nu*en"do\, n.; pl. {Innuedoes}(?). [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) 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.
Usage: 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.
"He was having a tough time, almost from the beginning in terms of pressures, leaks and innuendo about his skills and his relationship with the president.
Given that Granada is in such a strong position, it was thus a touch disappointing that in the pursuit of good sport the predator found it necessary to cast innuendo on LWT's profits forecast.
He said Atwater bore responsibility for the Republican memo that attacked House Speaker Tom Foley with homosexual innuendo and had lied in denying it.
It was the 12th take of a scene that depends largely on innuendo and the unspoken, and Raphael and his actors are determined to get it right.
No later Amanda -not even the wonderful Kay Hammond - could invest the lines with quite the degree of murderous innuendo conveyed by Gertrude Lawrence.
Sir, The innuendo at the conclusion of Ian Rutledge's letter (July 20), about the tax regime applying to offshore oil and gas activity, and the working relationship between oil companies and government, is misplaced.
"I'm personally sick and tired of being bled to death by innuendo.
Nothing's happened, except for a very public trial by innuendo.
Little, 49, a former assistant state attorney general, announced last month he would not seek a third term on the bench, acknowledging that "innuendo" about his work with teen-age boys was the reason.
We agree it's time to take the personal attacks and innuendo out of the judicial nomination process.
Exon denied the innuendo that he was a heavy drinker and said it was typical of Daub's "desperate, dirty tactics."
Mr Gordon Roddick, chairman, expressed frustration at 'innuendo' from 'the zealots of cynicism'.
Shea said Friday that he knew of no meeting company officials had planned with Wesbecker and refused to comment on what he called "the speculaton, rumors and innuendo" about Wesbecker's relationship with the company, where he went to work in 1971.
What we have heard is speculation and innuendo.
The innuendo was wrong.
In a separate court filing yesterday, attorneys representing some of the plaintiffs charged that Drexel "used carefully crafted allegations and innuendo to create the appearance of a judicial conflict where none in fact exists."
Perhaps this is because he knows the character of Howell Heflin, the Ethics Committee chairman, who said Judge Bork had a "strange lifestyle" and now taunts Clarence Thomas with innuendo about "date rape" and his divorce.
'There is just nothing to support it apart from innuendo.
Leaks and innuendo have kept the investment bank in the headlines for two years, but now Drexel is girding for a fullfledged legal fight, in particular early filing of a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.