Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Vaudeville
‖
Vaude′ville
,Noun.
[F., fr.
Vau-de-vire
, a village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th century, composed such songs.] [Written also
vaudevil
.] 1.
A kind of song of a lively character, frequently embodying a satire on some person or event, sung to a familiar air in couplets with a refrain; a street song; a topical song.
2.
A theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, set to familiar airs.
The early
vaudeville
, which is the forerunner of the opera bouffe, was light, graceful, and piquant. Johnson’s Cyc.
Definition 2024
vaudeville
vaudeville
English
Noun
vaudeville (countable and uncountable, plural vaudevilles)
- (historical, uncountable) A style of multi-act theatrical entertainment originated from France and which flourished in Europe and North America from the 1880s through the 1920s.
- (historical, countable) An entertainment in this style.
- 2008 January 28, Ben Brantley, “Ta-ta! Give ’Em the Old Existential Soft-Shoe”, in New York Times:
- “Me, Myself and I,” directed by Emily Mann and engagingly acted by a cast that includes the invaluable Albee veteran Brian Murray, is in the tradition of Mr. Albee’s mid- and late-career works like “The Marriage Play” and “The Play About the Baby”: fragmented philosophical vaudevilles that turn the most fundamental questions of identity into verbal soft-shoes.
-
Synonyms
- music hall (British)
Derived terms
- vaudevillian (noun)
Translations
a style of multi-act theatrical entertainment
|