vaudeville

vaudeville Definition

vaude·ville (vôd′vil, väd′-; vô′də-, vä′də-)

noun

☆
1. a stage show consisting of mixed specialty acts, including songs, dances, comic skits, acrobatic performances, etc.
2. this branch of entertainment generally
Now Rare a comic theatrical piece interspersed with songs and dances
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

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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