What does vaudeville mean?

Definitions for vaudeville
ˈvɔd vɪl, ˈvoʊd-, ˈvɔ də-vaude·ville

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word vaudeville.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. vaudeville, music hallnoun

    a variety show with songs and comic acts etc.

Wiktionary

  1. vaudevillenoun

    A style of multi-act theatrical entertainment which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s.

  2. vaudevillenoun

    An entertainment in this style.

  3. Etymology: Corruption of (after the supposedly scandalous nature of chorus lines in 19th century Paris), where the alliterative effect thus realized was supposed to be humorous or comical.

Wikipedia

  1. Vaudeville

    Vaudeville (; French: [vodvil]) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and films. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a "vaudevillian". Vaudeville developed from many sources, also including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called "the heart of American show business", vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades.

ChatGPT

  1. vaudeville

    Vaudeville is a theatrical entertainment genre originating in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is comprised of a variety of acts such as singing, dancing, comedy sketches, and magic shows, performed in a sequence by different entertainers. It was particularly popular before the rise of motion pictures and television. The term is derived from French theatre and is commonly associated with variety shows.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Vaudevillenoun

    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. Vaudevillenoun

    a theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, set to familiar airs

  3. Etymology: [F., fr. Vau-de-vire, a village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th century, composed such songs.]

Wikidata

  1. Vaudeville

    Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian. Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque. Called "the heart of American show business," vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Vaudeville

    vōd′vil, n. originally a popular song with topical allusions: a play interspersed with dances and songs incidentally introduced and usually comic.—n. Vaude′villist, a composer of these. [From vau (val) de Vire, the valley of the Vire, in Normandy, where they were first composed about 1400 A.D.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Vaudeville

    a light, lively song with topical allusions; also a dramatic poem interspersed with comic songs of the kind and dances.

The Roycroft Dictionary

  1. vaudeville

    A matter of verve, nerve and vermilion.

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. VAUDEVILLE

    From Lat. _vaut_, good for, and _villageois_, countryman. Good for countrymen.

Etymology and Origins

  1. Vaudeville

    The name given to a short, bright dramatic piece interspersed with songs set to familiar airs, after Vaudevire, a village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, the first to compose such pieces, was born. The Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand was built for entertainments of this class.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of vaudeville in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of vaudeville in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of vaudeville in a Sentence

  1. Mickey Rooney:

    Look, I come from vaudeville, I come from burlesque, I come from heartaches, I come from sadness, I come from gladness, I come from work and sweat and respect for the craft.

  2. Jessica Teich:

    Funny, You Don’t Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville. he wasn’tthatmuch older than I was, but in every possible way his position in life couldn’t have been less comparable to mine.

  3. Tim Allerton:

    There are two games being played here: one is the sort of vaudeville show at the front end but the more important one is going on behind the scenes.

  4. Tom Waits:

    George Burns was a Vaudeville performer I particularly loved.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

vaudeville#10000#47045#100000

Translations for vaudeville

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"vaudeville." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/vaudeville>.

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