shaggy dog (story)

shaggy dog (story)
{n. phr.} A special kind of joke whose long and often convoluted introduction and development delay the effect of the punch line. * /Uncle Joe only seems to bore his audiences with his long shaggy dog jokes, for when he comes to the long-awaited punch line, he gets very few laughs./

Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Shaggy Dog Story (TV) — Shaggy Dog Story was a charity programme for Children in Need, put together by the BBC in 1999 as a sequel to the previous year s Future Generations video (featuring chilcren s programmes), and the great success of 1997 s Perfect Day charity… …   Wikipedia

  • shaggy dog (story) — or shaggy dog n. 〚from such an anecdote involving a shaggy dog〛 a long, rambling joke, typically involving ludicrously unreal or irrational behavior and usually having an irrelevant conclusion * * * …   Universalium

  • shaggy dog (story) — or shaggy dog n. [from such an anecdote involving a shaggy dog] a long, rambling joke, typically involving ludicrously unreal or irrational behavior and usually having an irrelevant conclusion …   English World dictionary

  • shaggy dog (story) — or shaggy dog n. [from such an anecdote involving a shaggy dog] a long, rambling joke, typically involving ludicrously unreal or irrational behavior and usually having an irrelevant conclusion …   English World dictionary

  • shaggy dog story — A shaggy dog story is a joke which is a long story with a silly end …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • shaggy-dog story — ► shaggy dog story a long, rambling story or joke, amusing only because it is absurdly inconsequential. Main Entry: ↑shaggy …   English terms dictionary

  • shaggy dog story — shaggy dog .story n old fashioned a long joke that usually ends in a silly or disappointing way …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • shaggy dog story — shaggy dog ,story noun count a very long joke that ends in a silly way …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Shaggy dog story — In its original sense, a shaggy dog story is an extremely long winded tale featuring extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents, usually resulting in a pointless or absurd punchline. These stories are a special case of yarns, coming… …   Wikipedia

  • shaggy-dog story — ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˈ ̷ ̷ noun 1. a. : a long drawn out circumstantial story concerning an inconsequential happening that impresses the teller as humorous but the hearer as boresome and pointless b. : a similar humorous story whose humor lies in the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • shaggy dog story — noun a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness • Hypernyms: ↑joke, ↑gag, ↑laugh, ↑jest, ↑jape * * * shaggy dog story UK US noun [countable] [singula …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”