pantomime
[pan-tuh-mahym]
- the art or technique of conveying emotions, actions, feelings, etc., by gestures without speech.
- a play or entertainment in which the performers express themselves mutely by gestures, often to the accompaniment of music.
- significant gesture without speech.
- an actor in dumb show, as in ancient Rome.
- Also called Christmas pantomime. a form of theatrical spectacle common in England during the Christmas season, generally adapted from a fairy tale and including stock character types who perform songs and dances, tell jokes, etc.
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- to represent or express in pantomime.
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- to express oneself in pantomime.
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Origin of pantomime
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
pantomimedeceptiontravestyfarcenodsignalsigntokenindicationactionreminderexpressionsaluteaperesemblesimulatemirrorcaricaturemimicryimitationExamples from the Web for pantomime
Contemporary Examples
So I watched him pantomime skating, and I thought well if he can do it, I can do it.
A pantomime horse plays a role, as does a sardonic hand puppet.
“Grimaldi was pantomime,” writes Andrew McConnell Scott in his biography, The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi.
Historical Examples
A pantomime produced at Covent Garden, and published in 1778.
The Fall of British TyrannyJohn Leacock
I thanked him as best I could in pantomime and approached the walls.
"You're really like a child at a pantomime, Babs," he laughed, when they were alone.
The Education of Eric LaneStephen McKenna
He was the dwarf policeman in Holland's pantomime in the winter-time!
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 (of 2)Harry Furniss
A mortuary, a dissecting-chamber, or a pantomime property-room?
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 (of 2)Harry Furniss
pantomime
- (in Britain)
- a kind of play performed at Christmas time characterized by farce, music, lavish sets, stock roles, and topical jokesSometimes shortened to: panto
- (as modifier)a pantomime horse
- a theatrical entertainment in which words are replaced by gestures and bodily actions
- action without words as a means of expression
- (in ancient Rome) an actor in a dumb show
- informal, mainly British a confused or farcical situation
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- another word for mime (def. 5)
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Word Origin
C17: via Latin from Greek pantomīmos; see panto-, mime
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 pantomime
n.
1610s, "mime actor," from Latin pantomimus "mime, dancer," from Greek pantomimos "actor," literally "imitator of all," from panto- (genitive of pan) "all" (see pan-) + mimos "imitator" (see mime (n.)).
Meaning "drama or play without words" first recorded 1735. The English dramatic performances so called, usually at Christmas and with words and songs and stock characters, are attested by this name from 1739; said to have originated c.1717. Related: Pantomimic; pantomimical.
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v.
1768, from pantomime (n.). Related: Pantomimed; pantomiming.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper