| 释义 |
▪ I. ballet, n.1|ˈbæleɪ, ˈbale; rarely ˈbælɪt|
Forms: balette, -et, -at, 7–9 ballette, 8– ballet.
[a. F. ballet, dim. of bal dance: see ball n.2 In 17th c. the forms were confused with those of ballad n.]
1. a. A theatrical representation, consisting of dancing and pantomime, orginally employed to illustrate dramatically the costumes and manners of other nations, but now for the most part regarded as an artistic exhibition of skill in dancing.
1667Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesie Wks. 1725 I. 54 Not a Balette or Masque, but a play. 1676G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. i. (1684) 19 [The Russian] Balladins..are Now practising a famous Ballat, which will Be suddenly danc'd at the Bear-Garden. 1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 479 One of the ballets of the opera at Palermo, is a representation of Vauxhall Gardens. a1845Hood Vauxhall vii, Time's ripe for the Ballet, Like bees they all rally. 1865Law Times Rep. 371 A ballet of action has a plot, a ballet of divertissement has none.
b. transf.
1926C. Day Lewis in Oxford Poetry 15 The ballet of minnows Moving together In lithe sarabande.
c. In various French phrases, as ballet blanc [lit. ‘white ballet’]: a ballet in which the ballerinas are dressed in white; ballet bouffe, ballet bouffon: a comic ballet; ballet d'action [lit. ‘ballet of action’]: a ballet in which the dancing is used to convey a plot or theme; a dramatic ballet.
1797Encycl. Brit. V. 664/2 Such figures must give way to nature in what we term ballets d'action. 1849A. B. Reach Cl. Lorimer i. 29 The new ballet d'action, called ‘La Reine des Feu Follets’. 1947Horizon Nov. 293 There is nothing to show whether these Scènes were composed to any preconceived plan of action; but as they stand, they seem to imply a ballet blanc. 1947Ballet Ann. I. 28 Helen of Troy, another Offenbach ballet-bouffe..a light and not very original frolic. 1950Ibid. IV. 53 The magnificent costume billowing around her in an ectoplasmic ecstasy that would have delighted Gautier, father of le ballet blanc. 1958Listener 5 June 955/3 Rameau's ballet bouffon enters the category under false colours. 1962Times 4 Jan. 12/5 The noble stately measures of the eighteenth-century ballet d'action.
†2. gen. A dance. Obs.
1782S. Rogers Ital. Song 14 The ballet danced in twilight glade. 1829Scott Demonol. i. 20 The daily persecution of this domestic ballet.
3. attrib., as ballet-dance, ballet-dancer, ballet-drama, ballet-girl, ballet-goer, ballet-lover, ballet-music, ballet-romance, ballet-shoe, ballet-skirt; ballet-master, -mistress, one who arranges and directs the dancing of the ballet.
1796Ballet dance [see back-countryman]. 1912W. Owen Let. 28 Oct. (1967) 165 A lesson in the ballet-dance.
1836Q. Rev. No. 111. 87 Daughter of a worn-out ballet-dancer.
1915R. Lankester Divers. Nat. 176 The great traditions of fine stage-dancing and ballet-drama.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair liii. (1853) 443 Your mother, the ballet girl.
1938New Statesman 23 July 152/2 When the ordinary ballet-goer is confronted with a new ballet..he is likely first of all to be taken with the story.
1962Times 25 Apr. 16/5 Everything that the orthodox ballet critic and ballet-lover hold dear.
1762G.-A. Gallini Treat. Art Dancing 122 A good ballet-master must especially have regard to both poetical and picturesque invention. 1797Monthly Mirror Aug. 115 Byrne is the ballet master. 1823Byron Juan xiv. xxxviii, Danced..Not like a ballet-master in the van Of his drill'd nymphs.
1843W. H. Oxberry Budget of Plays (1844) I. 216/2 Astley's..Ballet Mistress, Miss Cushnie. 1871Echo 4 Nov., Ballet-mistress at the Grand Opera.
1835Penny Cycl. III. 331/2 A composer of good ballet-music is carefully attentive to locality and to nationality.
1801Monthly Mirror Aug. 131 The Corsair..A grand ballet romance, under this title, was performed for the first time.
1867T. W. Robertson Caste i. 5 (stage direction) A small table..with ballet-shoe and skirt on it.
Ibid. iii. 34 (stage direction) Jug..on table, bandbox and ballet skirt on table. 1901‘L. Malet’ Hist. Sir R. Calmady i. v. 37 The sustaining power of costume, whether it take the form of ballet-skirt or monk's frock.
Hence balletic |bæˈlɛtɪk| a., of or pertaining to the ballet; baˈlletically adv., in relation to the ballet.
1930T. Karsavina Theatre Street ii. xvi. 212 A ‘balletic’ form of dance was termed classical from time immemorial. 1936‘C. Brahms’ Footnotes to Ballet ii. §6. 112 Balletically the symphonies evade him. 1958Times 16 Sept. 3/2 Two familiar balletic motifs are thus involved—the eternal triangle, and the opposition between mob and individual.
▪ II. ballet, n.2|ˈbælɪt|
[f. ball n.1 + -et1, dim. suffix; cf. OF. balette.]
A little ball, esp. in Her.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Balls or Ballets..make a frequent bearing in coats of arms..[they are called] pomeis when vert, pellets or agresses when sable, orenges when tanne.
▪ III. ballet, n.3 Hist.|ˈbælɪt|
[16–17th-c. spelling of ballad n.]
A form of madrigal in dance-rhythm.
1595T. Morley (title) The first booke of balletts to fiue voyces. 1597T. Morley Introd. Mus. 180 An other kind..of Ballets, commonlie called fa las..deuised to be daunced to voices. 1598T. Weelkes (title) Balletts and madrigals to fiue voyces. 1789Burney Hist. Mus. III. 101 Ballets, or Fa las, to five voices. 1867[see fa-la b]. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. 132/2 Ballets, compositions of a light character, but somewhat in the madrigal style, frequently with a ‘Fa la’ burden which could be both sung and danced to. 1921E. H. Fellowes Eng. Madrigal Composers 57 An essential feature of the Ballet..was the introduction, at the end of each section, of a florid and rhythmical passage vocalized to the syllables Fa la la. 1942E. Blom Music in Engl. vii. 111 The canzonets and ballets, the lightest pieces for combined voices written by the Elizabethan and Jacobean masters.
▪ IV. ˈballet, v.
[f. ballet n.1]
To express by ballet-action or pantomime.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 155 (Hoppe) Old man picks up Simpkin, and ballets to him that he's very sorry..He ballets to her: ‘Will you come down here and dance?’
▪ V. ballet, -ette
obs. forms of ballad. |