vaudeville

American  

[vawd-vil, vohd-, vaw-duh-] / ˈvɔd vɪl, ˈvoʊd-, ˈvɔ də- /

noun

1. theatrical entertainment consisting of a number of individual performances, acts, or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians.

2. a theatrical piece of light or amusing character, interspersed with songs and dances.

3. a satirical cabaret song.

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vaudeville British  

/ ˈvəʊdəvɪl, ˈvɔː- /

noun

1. Brit name: music hall.  variety entertainment consisting of short acts such as acrobatic turns, song-and-dance routines, animal acts, etc, popular esp in the early 20th century

2. a light or comic theatrical piece interspersed with songs and dances

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vaudeville Cultural  

1. Light theatrical entertainment, popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, consisting of a succession of short acts. A vaudeville show usually included comedians, singers, dancers, jugglers, trained animals, magicians, and the like.

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Etymology

Origin of vaudeville

1730–40; < French, shortened alteration of Middle French chanson du vau de Vire “song of the vale ( def. ) of Vire,” a valley of Calvados, France, noted for satirical folksongs

Example Sentences

At the same time, American families began to flock to vaudeville performances.

From The Wall Street Journal

Stewart purchased and is restoring the Highland Theatre, a cultural landmark that once hosted vaudeville acts.

From Los Angeles Times

Prominent public figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt spoke there before it transitioned into a vaudeville venue.

From Los Angeles Times

These would influence the American musical, but also shaping the genre were homegrown entertainments—the minstrel show, the revues of Florenz Ziegfeld, vaudeville and burlesque.

From The Wall Street Journal

For all its verbal vaudeville, though, this holiday pageant occasionally hints at Thomas’s abiding theme, death.

From The Wall Street Journal