shadow play


noun
  1. a show in which shadows of puppets, flat figures, or live actors are projected onto a lighted screen.

Origin of shadow play

1
First recorded in 1890–95
  • Also called shadowgraph, shadow pantomime, shadow show, shadow theater.

Words Nearby shadow play

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shadow play in a sentence

  • In skilfully printed papers of the sort the design often has the effect of a mere shadow-play of form.

  • The wajang beber is of very early origin and is a shadow play, shadows of marionettes being shown through a white cloth.

    Letters of a Javanese Princess | Raden Adjeng Kartini
  • The servant came with tea, and drew down the upper blinds, shutting out that mocking shadow-play at which Saxham had been staring.

    The Dop Doctor | Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
  • Was it a moving herd, a shifting mist, a shadow-play between the night and dawn?

    Under Two Flags | Ouida [Louise de la Ramee]
  • The Indian thinks of this world as a circular and unending journey, an ocean without shore, a shadow play without even a plot.

British Dictionary definitions for shadow play

shadow play

noun
  1. a theatrical entertainment using shadows thrown by puppets or actors onto a lighted screen

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