[F. vaudeville, earlier vau (pl. vaux) de ville, vau de vire, and in full chanson du Vau de Vire a song of the valley of Vire (in Calvados, Normandy). The name is said to have been first given to songs composed by Olivier Basselin, a fuller of Vire in the 15th c.]
1. A light popular song, commonly of a satirical or topical nature; spec. a song of this nature sung on the stage.
The entry in Blount, Glossogr. (1656), is copied directly from Cotgrave (1611).
1739. H. Walpole, Lett. to R. West, 18 June. I will send you one of the vaudevilles or ballads which they sing at the comedy after their petites pièces.
1818. Lady Morgan, Autobiog. (1859), 85. Whenever Carbonel sings his delicious vaudevilles we think of you.
1824. Watts, Bibl. Brit., II. 617. Simon de la Loubere … also wrote Songs, Vaudevilles, Madrigals, Sonnets, Odes, &c.
2. A play or stage performance of a light and amusing character interspersed with songs. Also without article, this species of play or comedy.
1833. Lytton, Godolphin, ix. Fanny … was inimitable in vaudeville, in farce, and in the lighter comedy.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes (1850), 65/2. The third, the Olympic, is a tiny show-box for vaudevilles and burlesques.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, xxxix. Country people always go to see tragedies. None of your flimsy vaudevilles for them!
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xx. Is this world and all the life upon it only like a farce or vaudeville, where you find no great meanings?
attrib. 1891. Times, 28 Oct., 13/4. A vaudeville entertainment, which was continued for about three months.
1899. Morrow, Bohem. Paris, 15. Paris, the great city, the vaudeville playhouse of the world.
