English Explanatory Dictionary

Yehudi lights

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Lights placed under aeroplanes that raise their brightness to the same level as that of the sky, as a form of camouflage.

Word forms

Yehudi lights

Etymology

Developed, in part, by the US Navy's "Project Yehudi" from 1943 onwards. Yehudi in then-contemporary slang meant "the little man who wasn't there". The slang term may perhaps allude to the popular catchphrase and novelty song Who's Yehoodi? The catchphrase is said to have originated when violinist Yehudi Menuhin was a guest on the popular radio program of Bob Hope, where sidekick Jerry Colonna, apparently finding the name itself humorous, repeatedly asked "who's Yehudi?"

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