tenderloin
noun, proper noun
Forms tenderloins
- noun The tenderest part of a loin of meat, especially of pork or beef.
- noun (dated, US slang) A district of a city where corruption is common, often because the district is devoted to questionable businesses (peep shows, etc) which are easy for police to blackmail and extort.
- proper noun (historical) A neighborhood of varying extent in midtown Manhattan, New York known for illicit entertainment and associated police corruption.
- proper noun A similar neighborhood in San Francisco, California.
- proper noun A similar neighborhood in Seattle, Washington.
Synonyms
red-light district striploin fillet eye fillet combat zone undercut
Etymology
From tender + loin.
See tenderloin.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tenderloin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details