claqueur

See also: Claqueur

English

Etymology

From French claqueur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɑːˈkɜː(ɹ)/, /klæˈkɜː(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

claqueur (plural claqueurs)

1. (chiefly historical) A member of the claque employed to applaud during a theatre performance.
   • 1853, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter XXI, in My Novel‎^[1]:

     “Many a clever fellow fails through life, because the silly fellows, whom half a word well spoken could make his claqueurs, turn him into ridicule. Whatever you are, avoid the fault of most reading men: in a word, don’t be a prig!”

   • 1930 February 23, “Theatre Claqueurs in Vienna Form Union”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     One hundred and fifty “iron-handed” Vienna theatre claqueurs today formed a trade union, probably the first of its kind in the world. […] The most popular singers have been obliged to give free tickets and even to donate cash, lest the claque retaliate by frantic applause at the wrong moment.

References

• “claqueur”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From claquer (“to clap”) +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kla.kœʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

claqueur m (plural claqueurs, feminine claqueuse)

1. claqueur

Descendants

• → English: claqueur
• → German: Claqueur
• → Italian: claqueur
• → Polish: klakier

Further reading

• “claqueur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French claqueur.

Noun

claqueur m (invariable)

1. a member of a claque