burlesque
[ber-lesk]
- an artistic composition, especially literary or dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with mock dignity.
- any ludicrous parody or grotesque caricature.
- Also bur·lesk. a humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus.
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- involving ludicrous or mocking treatment of a solemn subject.
- of, relating to, or like stage-show burlesque.
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- to make ridiculous by mocking representation.
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- to use caricature.
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Origin of burlesque
Synonyms
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1. Burlesque, caricature, parody, travesty refer to the literary or dramatic forms that imitate serious works or subjects to achieve a humorous or satiric purpose. The characteristic device of burlesque is mockery of both high and low through association with their opposites: a burlesque of high and low life. Caricature, usually associated with visual arts or with visual effects in literary works, implies exaggeration of characteristic details: The caricature emphasized his nose. Parody achieves its humor through application of the manner or technique, usually of a well-known writer, to unaccustomed subjects: a parody by Swift. Travesty implies a grotesque form of burlesque: characters so changed as to produce a travesty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
spooftravestyfarcemockingcomicmockcaricaturemockeryvaudevillestripsatirelampoontakeoffpasticheparodyrevueludicroussatiricalironicalcaricaturalExamples from the Web for burlesque
Contemporary Examples
Burlesque artists are often in it for the costumes, spending what they earn on fabric, feathers, and crystals.
“The nature of the burlesque scene in London is as diverse as burlesque itself,” said Howard Wilmot, creator of Boylexe/Burlexe.
Boylexe is a spin-off of a show about women in burlesque called Burlexe, which likewise mixes striptease, monologue, and song.
Here, another writer says the burlesque model has got it right.
He soon employs his new houseguest as a dancer in his burlesque theater and eventually pimps her out to select clients.
Cannes Diary: James Gray’s ‘The Immigrant,’ Starring Marion Cotillard, ShinesRichard Porton
May 25, 2013
Historical Examples
Burlesque, farce and extravagance of situation and dialogue.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
Burlesque of character and calling puts in an occasional appearance.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
It might be called a burlesque, but for the fact that it is unaccompanied by the luxury of legs.
Deem not this collocation simply a burlesque on Scientific categories.
Life: Its True GenesisR. W. Wright
Nailed several anti-saloon and burlesque planks in his platform.
Who Was Who: 5000 B. C. to DateAnonymous
burlesque
- an artistic work, esp literary or dramatic, satirizing a subject by caricaturing it
- a ludicrous imitation or caricature
- a play of the 17th–19th centuries that parodied some contemporary dramatic fashion or event
- Also: burlesk US and Canadian theatre a bawdy comedy show of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the striptease eventually became one of its chief elementsSlang name: burleycue
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- of, relating to, or characteristic of a burlesque
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- to represent or imitate (a person or thing) in a ludicrous way; caricature
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Word Origin
C17: from French, from Italian burlesco, from burla a jest, piece of nonsense
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for burlesque
n.
1660s, "derisive imitation, grotesque parody," from French burlesque (16c.), from Italian burlesco, from burla "joke, fun, mockery," possibly ultimately from Late Latin burra "trifle, nonsense," literally "flock of wool." Modern sense of "variety show featuring striptease" is American English, 1870. Originally (1857) "the sketches at the end of minstrel shows." As a verb, from 1670s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper