pantomime

English

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pantomime

Wikipedia

Etymology

Circa 17th century, from Latin pantomīmus, from Ancient Greek παντόμιμος (pantómimos), from πᾶς (pâs, “each, all”) + μιμέομαι (miméomai, “I mimic”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpæn.təˌmʌɪm/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpæn.təˌmaɪm/

Noun

pantomime (countable and uncountable, plural pantomimes)

1. (now rare) A Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime.
   • 1865, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization:

     [He] saw a pantomime perform so well that he could follow the performance from the action alone.

2. (historical) The drama in ancient Greece and Rome featuring such performers; or (later) any of various kinds of performance modelled on such work.
3. (UK) A traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children and involving physical comedy, topical jokes, call and response, and fairy-tale plots.
   • 2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport‎:

     With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.

4. Gesturing without speaking; dumb-show, mime.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 26”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     #*: A staid, steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of action, and not a tame chapter of sounds.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 26:

     In pantomime, Chief Joyi would fling his spear and creep along the veld as he narrated the victories and defeats.

Derived terms

• panto
• pantomime horse
• pantomime villain

Related terms

• dame
• dumb show
• mime
• pantomimical

Translations

See also

• sign language

See also

• dumb show

Verb

pantomime (third-person singular simple present pantomimes, present participle pantomiming, simple past and past participle pantomimed)

1. (transitive) To make (a gesture) without speaking.

   I pantomimed steering a car; he understood, and tossed the keys to me.

2. (transitive) To entertain others by silent gestures or actions. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

Noun

pantomime f (plural pantomimes)

1. pantomime

Further reading

• “pantomime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Italian

Noun

pantomime f

1. plural of pantomima

Latin

Noun

pantomīme

1. vocative singular of pantomīmus