concept
"Холостяки" (bachelors/blanks) pun
bachelors pun
also: холостяки, холостой, bachelors
An entry in Chekhov's "A Glossary for Young Ladies" punning on \emph{холостой}, which means both "unmarried" (\emph{холостяк}, a bachelor) and "blank," as in a blank cartridge (\emph{холостой заряд}) -- mock-defining bachelors as men who "fire off blank cartridges," a double entendre that survives well into English.
Reading notes
- A Glossary for Young Ladies §15 Bachelors
The pun is on \emph{холостой}, which means both "unmarried" (a bachelor, \emph{холостяк}) and "blank" as in \emph{холостой заряд}/\emph{холостое ружье} (a blank cartridge/an unloaded, harmless gun) -- so "bachelors" are mock-defined as men who fire "blanks," a double entendre (military blanks; and the bachelor's own romantic/reproductive "harmlessness") that survives reasonably well into English via "blank cartridges."