The meaning of Howler

noun

A plant that produces flowers at a specified time.

Usage examples:

Fragrant night-bloomers such as nicotiana

noun

A serious or stupid mistake.

Usage examples:

He never committed a bloomer

noun

A large loaf with diagonal slashes on a rounded top.

Usage examples:

I had visions of running over to the fresh bread counter, ripping the crust off a large bloomer and…

verb

(of an electronic device) emit a short low-pitched noise.

Usage examples:

A fruit machine blooping in the corner

noun

A short low-pitched noise emitted by an electronic device.

Usage examples:

A few bleeps and bloops

noun

In baseball, a high, soft hit that lands on the ground between the infield (= the closest defending players) and the outfield (= the players furthest away from the hitter)

Usage examples:

He hit a bloop that just evaded the second baseman., a little blooper scored two runs., he blooped …

noun

An embarrassing error.

Usage examples:

He poked fun at his own tendency to utter bloopers

noun

A mistake, often amusing, made by a person in public

noun

A stupid or careless mistake.

Usage examples:

She stopped, finally aware of the terrible blunder she had made

verb

Make a stupid or careless mistake; act or speak clumsily.

Usage examples:

He knew he'd blundered

noun

A big mistake, especially one resulting from a lack of care or thought

Usage examples:

His failure to respond immediately to the accusations was a major political blunder., he feared he …

noun

An erection of the penis.

noun

A mistake, or a small cut or injury

Usage examples:

I did a boo-boo! i spilled coffee!

noun

An embarrassing mistake.

Usage examples:

The boob was spotted by a security expert at the show

verb

Make an embarrassing mistake.

Usage examples:

We found that we had boobed and the booking was for the previous week

noun

A woman's breast.

Usage examples:

Her tummy is trim, her legs long (for obvious reasons), her boobs big, and her butt nice and round.

verb

Carry out (a task) badly or carelessly.

Usage examples:

He was accused of botching the job

noun

A bungled task.

Usage examples:

I've probably made a botch of things

verb

To spoil something by doing it badly

Usage examples:

He thinks the police botched the investigation.

noun

An absurd or embarrassing blunder.

Usage examples:

The minister had dropped a massive political clanger

noun

Something that you say by accident that embarrasses or upsets someone

Usage examples:

Claire dropped (= said) a clanger by joking about his dog that's been dead for three months.

noun

A mistake.

Usage examples:

Spelling errors

noun

A mistake, esp. in a way that can be discovered as wrong, or the making of such mistakes

Usage examples:

[ c ] a spelling/mathematical error, [ u ] investigators said the train crash was caused by human e…

noun

Something done or written by accident that is not correct, not accurate, or does not give the right result

Usage examples:

Make/introduce an error can i amend my vat return online if i've made an error?, correct/find an er…

verb

Be unsuccessful in achieving one's goal.

Usage examples:

He failed in his attempt to secure election

noun

A mark which is not high enough to pass an examination or test.

Usage examples:

A fail grade

noun

An unattractive or unsatisfactory feature, especially in a piece of work or in a person's character.

Usage examples:

My worst fault is impatience

verb

Criticize for inadequacy or mistakes.

Usage examples:

Her superiors could not fault her dedication to the job

noun

A quality in a person that shows that the person is not perfect, or a condition of something that shows that it is not working perfectly

Usage examples:

He loves me in spite of my faults., some people find fault in everything they see., i screwed up, s…

noun

Soft fibres from fabrics such as wool or cotton which accumulate in small light clumps.

Usage examples:

He brushed his sleeve to remove the fluff

verb

Make (something) appear fuller and softer by shaking or brushing it.

Usage examples:

I fluffed up the pillows

noun

A soft mass of fibers, feathers, or hair

Usage examples:

Cotton fluff, the cat, a ball of white fluff, darted into the house and started to lick its fur., w…

phrasal verb

A rude phrase meaning to damage, harm, or upset someone or something, or to do something very badly

Usage examples:

Her parents' divorce really fucked her up., i fucked up the interview., the exam was a disaster - i…

noun

An unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder.

Usage examples:

In my first few months at work i made some real gaffes

noun

An embarrassing mistake

Usage examples:

His failure to ask for his teacher’s advice was a major gaffe.

noun

A mistake.

Usage examples:

With a sense of humour, embarrassing goofs can be turned into something positive

verb

Behave in a silly way or playful way.

Usage examples:

They started goofing around in front of the cameras

noun

The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with an amusing effect (e.g. ‘dance a flamingo ’ instead of flamenco ).

noun

The wrong use of one word instead of another word because they sound similar to each other, with results that are unintentionally funny

noun

An act or judgement that is misguided or wrong.

Usage examples:

Coming here was a mistake

verb

Be wrong about.

Usage examples:

Because i was inexperienced i mistook the nature of our relationship

noun

An action or decision that is wrong or produces a result that is not correct or not intended

Usage examples:

We all make mistakes., [ + to infinitive ] it was a mistake to come to this restaurant without a re…

verb

Lose one's footing and slide unintentionally for a short distance.

Usage examples:

I slipped over on the ice

noun

An act of sliding unintentionally for a short distance.

Usage examples:

A single slip could send them plummeting down the mountainside

noun

A small piece of paper, typically a form for writing on or one giving printed information.

Usage examples:

His monthly salary slip

phrasal verb

Make a careless error.

Usage examples:

They often slipped up when it came to spelling

phrasal verb

To make a small mistake, often as a result of not thinking carefully

Usage examples:

It's easy for a journalist to slip up and use somebody else's idea without crediting him or her., t…

phrasal verb

To make a mistake

Usage examples:

We can't afford to slip up when we're risking so much money., there is a solution for taxpayers who…

noun

A grammatical mistake in speech or writing.

Usage examples:

This year, it seems likely that a number of my fellow countrymen will be spending a good deal of ti…

noun

Behaviour that is a social mistake or is not polite

Usage examples:

To commit a social solecism, a grammatical solecism