burlesque

English

Alternative forms

• burlesk (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from French burlesque, from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bə(ɹ)ˈlɛsk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

burlesque (comparative more burlesque, superlative most burlesque)

1. (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.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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

• vaudevillian

Derived terms

• burlesquely
• burlesqueness
• neo-burlesque

 

Translations

burlesque

• Finnish: burleski (fi)
• French: burlesque (fr)
• German: burlesk (de)
• Italian: burlesco (it)
• Manx: craidoil
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: burlesk

  Nynorsk: burlesk

• Russian: пародийный (ru) (parodijnyj)
• Turkish: burlesk (tr)

Noun

burlesque (countable and uncountable, plural burlesques)

1. A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.

   Synonyms: lampoon, travesty

   • 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.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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. […] ”

2. A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
3. 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

• vaudeville

Derived terms

• boylesque
• burlesquer
• neoburlesque
• preburlesque

 

Translations

parody

• Finnish: burleski (fi)
• French: parodie (fr)
• Italian: caricatura (it)
• Polish: burleska (pl)
• Russian: бурлеск (ru) (burlesk)

variety adult entertainment show

• Arabic: عَرْض مَسْرَحِيّ هَزْلِيّ m (ʕarḍ masraḥiyy hazliyy)
• Danish: varieté (da) c
• Finnish: burleski (fi)
• Polish: burleska (pl)

ludicrous imitation

• German: Burleske (de)
• Manx: craidaght f
• Norwegian: burlesk m

Verb

burlesque (third-person singular simple present burlesques, present participle burlesquing, simple past and past participle burlesqued)

1. 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.

2. 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

• unburlesqued

 

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byʁ.lɛsk/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Adjective

burlesque (plural burlesques)

1. burlesque; parodic; parodical

Noun

burlesque m (plural burlesques)

1. burlesque; parody

Coordinate terms

• vaudeville

Descendants

• → English: burlesque
• → German: burlesk
• → Romanian: burlesc
• → Turkish: burlesk

Further reading

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