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vaudeville Definition

vaude·ville (vôdvil, väd-; vôdə-, vädə-)

noun

    1. a stage show consisting of mixed specialty acts, including songs, dances, comic skits, acrobatic performances, etc.
    2. this branch of entertainment generally
  1. Now Rare a comic theatrical piece interspersed with songs and dances
  2. Obsolete a satirical or topical song, often with pantomime

Etymology: Fr, earlier vau-de-vire, after Vau-de-Vire, the valley of the Vire (in Normandy), famous for light, convivial songs

vaudeville Synonyms

vaudeville

n.

variety show, burlesque, skit, show, entr'acte, vaud*, bawdeville*.

vaudeville Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • performer: His first professional work came accompanying vaudeville performers, and he was part of a troupe that broke up in Kansas City in 1927.
  • theater: In 1914, while watching a friend rehearse at a vaudeville theater, she was approached by a talent scout for Fox.
  • act: A talent scout visits a Broadway booker to sell him a new vaudeville act he has seen.
  • artist: He was not Chinese at all, but an American vaudeville artist and conjuror called William Ellsworth Robinson.
  • show: The Original Chinese Conjuror is presented as a vaudeville show in the pavilion of a seaside pier.
  • singer: Charged with murder, Roxie goes to jail where she meets her idol, the vaudeville singer Velma Kelly ( Jones ).

Noun used with modifier

  • seaside: By night he was donning a frock coat and bow tie in the last of the great seaside vaudeville shows witnessed on the Island.
vaudeville Quotes

Derived fromthe wordsTerribleVaudeville† We call it a medium because nothing's well done.

—Ace, Goodman

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