[ad. med. or early mod.L. ventriloqui-um (It. ventriloquio, Sp., Pg. ventriloquia, F. ventriloquie), f. L. ventriloquus: see prec.]
1. = VENTRILOQUISM (in both senses).
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., VII. i. (1886), 101. A wench, practising hir diabolicall witchcraft and ventriloquie An. 1574.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. ix. 83. Some have questioned ventriloquie, when men strangely speak out of their bellies, whether it can be done lawfully or no.
a. 1680. Glanvill, Sadducismus, II. (1684), 64. For Ventriloquy, or speaking from the bottom of the Belly, ’tis a thing … as strange … as anything in Witchcraft.
1775. in Ash.
1823. Examiner, 338. His excellent imitations of ventriloquy.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 248/1. The lips and jaws being always somewhat open during ventriloquy, a slight labial movement remains unnoticed.
1889. H. MacColl, Mr. Stranger’s Sealed Packet, xxx. You would have put it all down to ventriloquy and imposture.
¶ 2. (See quot.) Obs.–0
1623. Cockeram, I. Ventriloquie, diuination by the inwards of beasts.
