burlesque
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editBorrowed from French burlesque, from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /bə(ɹ)ˈlɛsk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
editburlesque (comparative more burlesque, superlative most burlesque)
- (dated) Parodical; parodic
- 1711 December 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
- It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.
- 1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms[1], 4th edition, page 791:
- Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking.
Coordinate terms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
editburlesque
Noun
editburlesque (countable and uncountable, plural burlesques)
- A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.
- 1711 December 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
- Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accoutrements of heroes, the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people.
- 1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry:
- The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, / And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.
- 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
- “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […] ”
- A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
- A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.
- Synonyms: imitation, caricature
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
- Who is it that admires, and from the heart is attached to, national representative assemblies, but must turn with horror and disgust from such a profane burlesque and abominable perversion of that sacred institute?
Coordinate terms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
editparody
variety adult entertainment show
Verb
editburlesque (third-person singular simple present burlesques, present participle burlesquing, simple past and past participle burlesqued)
- To make a burlesque parody of.
- 1988 February 5, Billie Lawless, “Laying Down the Lawless”, in Chicago Reader[2]:
- When the venerable New York Times took my quote in which I described the neon elements as "burlesquing the myth of male dominance" and instead printed "he prefers to describe them as . . . symbols of male dominance" it became clear that dealing with journalists was going to be one long, rocky road.
- To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.
- 1678, Edward Stillingfleet, A Sermon preached on the Fast-Day, November 13, 1678:
- They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule.
Derived terms
editFrench
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editburlesque (plural burlesques)
Noun
editburlesque m (plural burlesques)
Coordinate terms
editDescendants
editFurther reading
edit- “burlesque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Italian
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English dated terms
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English verbs
- en:Comedy
- en:Theater
- French terms borrowed from Italian
- French terms derived from Italian
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Film genres
- fr:Theater