parley-voo

1 of 2

noun

¦pärlē¦vü

plural -s

1

: the French language

no words to spell, no sums to do … and no parley-voo

—J. R. Lowell

2

usually capitalized : frenchman

hardy British tars who had pity on a poor Parley-voo

—W. S. Gilbert

parley-voo

2 of 2

intransitive verb

"

-ed/-ing/-s

: talk

especially : to speak French or another language besides English

nice to stop and parley-voo a second

—Sinclair Lewis

Word History

Etymology

Noun

French parlez-vous do you speak (in parlez-vous français? do you speak French?)

Intransitive verb

French parlez-vous

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