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Glite Dictionary
🎬 American actress 🦺 Life jacket
Mae West

Mae West

2 6.4
An American film actress and writer known for bold, funny lines
  • proper noun
  • /meɪ wɛst/
  • NSFW
translation icon : Mae West
  • I said, I can do an impersonation of Mae West.

Examples

  • I do Mae West: "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"

    Fiction book (1991)

  • He'd tap-dance, you'd sashay around the room... ...like Mae West, and you'd sing...

    Bobby Deerfield (1977)

  • I can do an imitation of Mae West.

    Bobby Deerfield (1977)

  • You and Daddy would do impersonations of Mae West.

    Bobby Deerfield (1977)

  • I did an impersonation of Mae West?

    Bobby Deerfield (1977)

  • You know their names: Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Paris Hilton.

    Blog text (9)

  • Wanted them to remember all of the jokes and songs, her "Saucy Sassy Ladies" segment where she brought the house down in a clingy dress, singing as Mae West.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In her heyday, Mae West became a symbol of confidence and femininity in Hollywood.

  • One of Mae West's famous quotes is, "I used to be snow white, but I outgrew it."

  • Too much of a good thing is wonderful, Mae West once quipped.

Surface Forms

Mae West main

Morphology

Mae + West

This is an eponymic name: the phrase refers to a life jacket named after actress Mae West because of a perceived resemblance to her figure, so the meaning is not compositionally derived from the words 'Mae' and 'West'. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not be able to infer the life-jacket meaning without cultural or historical knowledge, making it idiomatic and unpredictable.

Etymology

Mae West is the stage name of a famous American 'actress' and writer from the early 1900s who became known for bold jokes and clever double meanings, so the name refers to that well-known performer.