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A.Word.A.Day--vaudeville

This week's theme: Toponyms

vaudeville (VAWD-vil) noun

Theatrical entertainment featuring a variety of acts such as songs, dances, comedy, acrobatics, magic, pantomime, etc.

[From French vaudeville, from Old French vaudevire, a shortening of chanson du Vau de Vire (song of the Valley of Vire), from Vire, a valley of Calvados, Normandy in France where satirical folksongs were composed by Olivier Basselin in the fifteenth century.]

"The family travelled around Australia with their big tent show, entertaining crowds with vaudeville acts and horse stunts until the 1950s."
Eamon Hamilton; A Hundred Years Young; Hawkesbury Gazette (Australia); Jun 2, 2005.

See more usage examples of vaudeville in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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