Chambers (thing)

The Chambers dictionary is noted for containing some definitions that are less than completely serious. These are the ones that I found were also actually amusing (in a rather reserved, lexicographer kind of way):

• bafflegab

  (slang) the professional loggorhoea of many politicians, officials, and salespeople, characterized by prolix abstract circumlocution and/or a profusion of abstruse technical terminology, used as a means of persuasion, pacification, or obfuscation.

• charity begins at home

  usually an excuse for not allowing it to get abroad.

• éclair

  a cake, long in shape but short in duration...

• jaywalker

  a careless pedestrian whom motorists are expected to avoid running down.

• middle-aged

  between youth and old-age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner.

• petting party

  (colloq) a gathering for the purpose of amorous caressing as an organized sport. Origin unknown; not from Gaelic