Meaning of Burlesque | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.
   countable, uncountable
2. A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
   countable, uncountable
3. A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“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 dull burlesque appeared with impudence, / And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.”

““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. […]””

“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?”

CEFR level