vaudeville

[ vawd-vil, vohd-, vaw-duh- ]
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noun
  1. theatrical entertainment consisting of a number of individual performances, acts, or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians.: Compare variety (def. 9).

  2. a theatrical piece of light or amusing character, interspersed with songs and dances.

  1. a satirical cabaret song.

Origin of vaudeville

1
1730–40; <French, shortened alteration of Middle French chanson du vau de Vire “song of the vale of Vire,” a valley of Calvados, France, noted for satirical folksongs

Words Nearby vaudeville

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British Dictionary definitions for vaudeville

vaudeville

/ (ˈvəʊdəvɪl, ˈvɔː-) /


noun
  1. mainly US and Canadian variety entertainment consisting of short acts such as acrobatic turns, song-and-dance routines, animal acts, etc, popular esp in the early 20th century: Brit name: music hall

  2. a light or comic theatrical piece interspersed with songs and dances

Origin of vaudeville

1
C18: from French, from vaudevire satirical folk song, shortened from chanson du vau de Vire song of the valley of Vire, a district in Normandy where this type of song flourished

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for vaudeville

vaudeville

[ (vawd-vuhl, vaw-duh-vil) ]


Light theatrical entertainment, popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of a succession of short acts. A vaudeville show usually included comedians, singers, dancers, jugglers, trained animals, magicians, and the like.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.