What does Uncle mean?

Definitions for Uncle
ˈʌŋ kəlun·cle

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Uncle.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. unclenoun

    the brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt

  2. unclenoun

    a source of help and advice and encouragement

    "he played uncle to lonely students"

Wiktionary

  1. unclenoun

    A brother or brother-in-law of someone's parent.

  2. unclenoun

    A companion to your (usually unmarried) mother.

  3. unclenoun

    A source of advice, encouragement, or help.

  4. unclenoun

    A pawnbroker.

  5. unclenoun

    A close male friend of the parents of a family.

  6. unclenoun

    an older male African-American person

  7. uncleinterjection

    A cry used to indicate surrender.

  8. Etymology: uncle, from uncle, from oncle, from avunculus, diminutive of avus, from awo-. Displaced native Middle English eam (from Old English eam "maternal uncle", compare Old English fædera "paternal uncle") from the same root. More at eme.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Unclenoun

    The father’s or mother’s brother.

    Etymology: oncle, Fr.

    Hamlet punishes his uncle rather for his own death, than the murther of his father. Shakespeare Illustrated.

Wikipedia

  1. Uncle

    U.N.C.L.E. is an acronym for the fictional United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, a secret international intelligence agency featured in the 1960s American television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.. U.N.C.L.E. is an organization consisting of agents of all nationalities. Responsible for "maintaining political and legal order anywhere in the world", it is multinational in makeup and international in scope, protecting and defending nations regardless of size or political persuasion. U.N.C.L.E. operates in Communist and Third World countries the same way that it does in the Western nations. In the episode entitled "The Shark Affair," (episode 4 from season 1, from 1964) enforcement agent of U.N.C.L.E. Napoleon Solo reveals that U.N.C.L.E. is sponsored by the US, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia. Its primary opponent is the independent international criminal organization, THRUSH (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity).

ChatGPT

  1. uncle

    An uncle is a male individual who is a sibling of one's parent or married to one's parental sibling.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Unclenoun

    the brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship

  2. Unclenoun

    a pawnbroker

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Uncle

    ung′kl, n. the brother of one's father or mother: an old man generally: a pawnbroker.—n. Un′cleship, the state of being an uncle.—Uncle Sam, the United States or its people.—Talk like a Dutch uncle (see Dutch). [O. Fr. (Fr. oncle)—L. avunculus, extension of avus, a grandfather.]

Editors Contribution

  1. uncle

    The brother of one’s parent.


    Submitted by dklajksdajsdaiuoiuoew on December 15, 2019  

Suggested Resources

  1. uncle

    The uncle symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the uncle symbol and its characteristic.

Etymology and Origins

  1. Uncle

    How this name came to be applied to a pawnbroker was as follows:--Before the “spout” was introduced all those pledges which consisted of clothing were attached to a very large book, or uncus as it was called, conformably to the Latin description of the article, since the Lombards were the earliest pawnbrokers of history. When this uncus could accommodate nothing more, the rope from which it depended was unslung from the ceiling, and laid across the shoulders of an assistant, who then carried the whole collection to the store-rooms overhead. Hence an article which had been pledged was said to have “Gone to the Uncus,” or, as the modern phrase has it, “Gone to my Uncle’s.”

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Uncle' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2931

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Uncle' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2593

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Uncle' in Nouns Frequency: #1173

How to pronounce Uncle?

How to say Uncle in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Uncle in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Uncle in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of Uncle in a Sentence

  1. G. K. Chesterton:

    Men always talk about the most important things to perfect strangers. In the perfect stranger we perceive man himself; the image of a God is not disguised by resemblances to an uncle or doubts of wisdom of a mustache.

  2. Rose Marie:

    They were all going, ‘ You’re our Baby ! ’ and then Uncle Al Capone picked me up in Uncle Al Capone arms and said, ‘ We love you Baby. From now on, you call me uncle Al. ’ I said, ‘ Sure, why not ? Ok, uncle Al. ’ … At that time every hotel or popular place, gambling place, was owned by one of the boys, or ran by one of the boys. And I knew them all from going from one place to another doing my act.

  3. Steve Wilson:

    It started with Lisa Wilsons uncle. Lisa Wilsons uncle was feeling so bad. Lisa Wilsons uncle wasn't eating, and Lisa Wilsons uncle was coughing a lot.

  4. Mia Paz in jail:

    I had so much fear, I didn’t know how to manage it, and I lashed out. I ran from police until my first charge was for resisting arrest at age 15, i was arrested again at age 16. The police officer he sat on my back and he lashed my feet to my hands. What that policeman did, it felt not much different from what my uncle did. I could speak about the police, but I couldn't talk about my uncle, the fear was deep inside.

  5. Tom Sawyer:

    Then my Uncle Randy, who’s my dad’s twin brother, died just before last year’s bowhunt, so Dad and I just didn’t feel up to it last fall; the three of us had always done everything together. But this year we were ready. We were hunting this new property in Missouri, and the activity seemed to all be happening on this remote section of the farm, where some CRP met a creek. I went back there and tucked in to a patch of willows, right on the ground. I rattled and had four small bucks trot right in and never see me, so I liked the setup. A while later, a big doe came out in the grass—and right behind her was this giant. I had one long shot at him but it was windy and I passed it. He was walking away when I rattled once, and he ignored it. Then I looked up to the sky and said, ‘Bring him in to me Uncle Randy.’ I hit the horns hard, and the buck spun around and walked right in for the shot. The biggest buck I’d shot before him was 140 inches, and I like to think my uncle had a big part of this special buck.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Uncle#1#7224#10000

Translations for Uncle

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"Uncle." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 10 Dec. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Uncle>.

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    a medicinal liquid that is rubbed into the skin to relieve muscular stiffness and pain
    • A. urus
    • B. allogamy
    • C. liniment
    • D. macron

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