parlous

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Related to parlous: John Bull

par·lous

(pär′ləs)

adj.

1. Perilous; dangerous: "starting from scratch in parlous economic times" (Madalynne Reuter).

2. Obsolete Dangerously cunning.

[Middle English, variant of perilous, perilous, from peril, peril; see peril.]

par′lous·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

parlous

(ˈpɑːləs)

adj

1. dangerous or difficult

2. cunning

adv

extremely

[C14 perlous, variant of perilous]

ˈparlously adv

ˈparlousness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

par•lous

(ˈpɑr ləs)

adj.

1. perilous; dangerous.

2. Obs. cunning; shrewd.

[1350–1400; Middle English, earlier perlous, syncopated variant of perilous perilous]

par′lous•ly, adv.

par′lous•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.

parlous - fraught with danger; "dangerous waters"; "a parlous journey on stormy seas"; "a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat"; "the precarious life of an undersea diver"; "dangerous surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery"

perilous, touch-and-go, precarious

dangerous, unsafe - involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; "a dangerous criminal"; "a dangerous bridge"; "unemployment reached dangerous proportions"

parlous

adjective (Archaic or humorous) dangerous, difficult, desperate, risky, dire, hazardous, hairy (slang), perilous, chancy (informal) Our economy is in a parlous state.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

parlous

adjective

Involving possible risk, loss, or injury:

adventurous, chancy, dangerous, hazardous, jeopardous, perilous, risky, treacherous, unsafe, venturesome, venturous.

Slang: hairy.

Translations

pericoloso rischioso

parlous

[ˈpɑːləs] ADJ [state] → lamentable, crítico, pésimo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

parlous

[ˈpɑː^rləs] adj (formal) → précaireParma ham parma ham [ˌpɑː^rməˈhæm] n → jambon m de Parme

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

parlous

adj (old, liter) to be in a parlous state → sich in einem prekären Zustand befinden

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

parlous

[ˈpɑːləs] adj (old) (liter) → periglioso/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

It was clear that the miscreant was in a parlous state.

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Daylight, after I had been four hours in the water, found me in a parlous condition in the tide-rips off Mare Island light, where the swift ebbs from Vallejo Straits and Carquinez Straits were fighting with each other, and where, at that particular moment, they were fighting the flood tide setting up against them from San Pablo Bay.

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Sir, it is parlous news I bring, and -- be these pilgrims?

View in context

If you find us in so parlous a state, it is surely scarcely dignified or gracious, on the part of a great nation like yours, to leave us so abruptly to our fate.

View in context

But it was not until we had effected our entry through the room which had been my very own, and made our parlous way across the lighted landing, to the best bedroom of those days and these, that I really felt myself a worm.

View in context

On a two-paced pitch which was well exploited by the Sussex seamers, Vaughan was strong in defence and quick to attack as he helped Yorkshire recover from a parlous 31-3 to close on 227-5 and go on to win by 14 runs.

Vaughan innings to alert England

Mr Elias knows the parlous state of the Towy's salmon and sea-trout.

Help the fishery, not the fishermen

This family's plight is parlous but doesn't it strike you that some of their ills are self-inflicted?

Horrific poverty - but who's to blame?

It is precisely that kind of contradiction that explains why British tennis is in such a parlous state, fighting for its life on the shores of the Black Sea.

Lawn Tennis: Britain waives rules for stars

That begs two questions.Firstly, has the government in London left us in such a parlous state with an economy so weak that we would be on our knees in no time.

Letter: Safe on our own

The move, which will take place over the coming Bank holiday weekend, was forced on the party by rising rents and the parlous state of its own finances.

Labour's staff in weekend flit

I must say that it is in these occasional, reflective moments when you realise how desperately parlous our nation's state has become.