pageant
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English
Alternative forms
- pageaunt (obsolete)
Etymology
Late 14th c. as Middle English pagent, from Medieval Latin pagina (“play in a cycle of mystery plays”), perhaps from Latin pāgina (“page of a book”).
Pronunciation
Noun
pageant (plural pageants)
- An elaborate public display, especially a parade in historical or traditional costume.
- Synonym: spectacle
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC:
- For a few moments the events of the day floated in disastrous pageant through my brain, till sleep bathed it in forgetfulness […]
- 2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 1, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part I. The New Deal Order, 1930–1980:
- The artists who painted these murals brought the pageant of America vividly to life. Everyone knew that the construction of this pageant, and the celebration of America that it implied, was the work of the New Deal.
- A spectacular ceremony.
- Ellipsis of beauty pageant.
- Synonyms: beauty contest, beauty pageant
- (obsolete) A wheeled platform for the exhibition of plays, etc.
Derived terms
Translations
public display
|
spectacular ceremony
|
beauty pageant — see beauty pageant
Verb
pageant (third-person singular simple present pageants, present participle pageanting, simple past and past participle pageanted)
- To exhibit in show; to represent; to mimic.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- He pageants us.
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pageant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
pageant
- Alternative form of pagent