opéra bouffe

[op-er-uh boof, op-ruh; French aw-pey-ra boof]

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noun, plural o·pé·ra bouffes, o·pé·ras bouffe, French o·pé·ras bouffes [aw-pey-ra boof] /ɔ peɪ ra ˈbuf/.

a comic opera, especially of farcical character.

Origin of opéra bouffe

Borrowed into English from French around 1865–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for opera bouffe

Historical Examples of opera bouffe

The marchale announced that she was going to the Opera-Bouffe.
The Red and the Black
Stendhal
So the night wore on, with more songs and duets from opera and opera-bouffe.
Mount Royal, Volume 3 of 3
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
To-day a drama, next week a comedy, opera-bouffe the week after.
Jonathan and His Continent
Max O'Rell
Opera-bouffe and Gilbert and Sullivan are preferred to everything else.
Town Life in Australia
R. E. N. (Richard) Twopeny
Offenbach, of opera-bouffe notoriety, almost lived on coffee while creating his dainty aerial music.
Genius in Sunshine and Shadow
Maturin Murray Ballou

British Dictionary definitions for opera bouffe

opéra bouffe

noun plural opéras bouffes (French ɔpera buf)

a type of light or satirical opera common in France during the 19th century

Word Origin for opéra bouffe

from French: comic opera

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