raree show
- peep show.
- a carnival or street show; spectacle.
Origin of raree show
Examples from the Web for raree show
Historical Examples of raree show
The boys will care for this raree-show more than thou or I, Tib!
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
Be gar no raree-show for you, monsieur Alscrip, if I can help.
The Heiress;John Burgoyne
He twists and doubles himself as if he had a raree-show at his back.
The Heiress;John Burgoyne
My name is Jack Capstone of Deptford, and are not you the man that has the raree-show of oyster-shells and pebble-stones?
Three Hours after MarriageJohn Gay
I would pay due attention to the crowd by and by, and gratify it perhaps more than by the raree-show it was gaping to see.
At War with Society or, Tales of the OutcastsJames McLevy
raree show
- a street show or carnival
- another name for peepshow
Word Origin for raree show
Word Origin and History for raree show
"peep show contained in a box," 1680s, so called "in imitation of the foreign way of pronouncing rare show" [Johnson]. "Johnson's statement is prob. correct; the early exhibitors of peep-shows appear to have been usually Savoyards, from whom the form was no doubt adopted" [OED]. Early "peep shows" were more innocent than what usually was meant later by that word.