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.
Syn: Insinuation; suggestion; hint; intimation; reference;
allusion; implication; representation; -- {Innuendo},
{Insinuation}.
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.