| 释义 |
▪ I. scene|siːn|
Also 6 sean, 6–7 seane, scæne, 6, 8 schene, 7 scæn, sceane(e.
[a. F. scène (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. scēna, scæna stage, scene, a. Gr. σκηνή tent or booth, stage, scene.
Dryden (Virg. Georg. iii. 38) rimes the word with train.]
I. With reference to the theatre.
1. Antiq. The stage of a Greek or Roman theatre, including the platform on which the actors stood, and the structure which formed the background (usually representing the outside of a house or temple). Also transf.
1612W. Strachey Trav. Virginia (1953) i. vi. 78 By their howses, they have sometymes A Scæne or high Stage raised like a Scaffold..covered with Matts, which..is a Shelter and serves for such a covered place, where men vsed in old tyme to sitt and talke. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 241 Apaturius Alabandeus made..a scene [= scenam, Vitruv.] with a neat hand, wherein he made images instead of columnes... He made moreover an upper-scene [= episcenium, Vitruv.], wherein the seelings of the porches, the halfe-house-tops were diversly adorned by the Painter. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece v. 365 The Scene is oblong, jetting out six Paces more forward in the Front, than the Seats of the Spectators. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. Pref. (1827) I. 125 The division for the actors was called in general the scene, or stage. 1924A. Huxley Let. 29 Apr. (1969) 229 A Palladian theatre with fixed scene and various other delights.
2. [= F. scène.] The stage or theatre taken as standing for either the dramatic art or the histrionic profession. Now only arch.
1682Wheler Journ. Greece 370 For [athletic] games had such an officer belonging to them... But whoever heard of such an officer belonging to the Scene? 1697Dryden æneis Ded (a) 3, I have more than once already maintain'd the Rights of my two Masters [Homer and Virgil] against their Rivals of the Scene, even while I wrote Tragedies my self. 1713Pope Prol. to Cato 41 Our Scene precariously subsists too long On French Translation, and Italian Song. 1761Churchill Rosciad 475 Giddy with praise, and puff'd with female pride, She quits the tragic scene.
†3.
a. The action or representation of a piece upon the stage; a stage-performance; a play or drama in representation. Obs. exc. as in b.
1592Kyd Sp. Trag. iv. iv. 79 To die to day for fashioning our Scene..And in a minute starting vp againe, Reuiue to please too morrowes audience. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, Prol. 4 A Kingdome for a Stage, Princes to Act, And Monarchs to behold the swelling Scene. 1608Merry Devil of Edmonton Prol. 3 Your silence and attention, worthy friends, That your free spirits may with more pleasing sense Relish the life of this our actiue sceane. 1634Heywood & Brome Late Lancashire Witches Prol., We are forc'd from our owne Nation To ground the Scene that's now in agitation. 1679Dryden Troilus & Cr. Pref. b 3, And now behold King Richard entring upon the Scene. 1697― æneis Ded. (a) 2 b, The Poet who Flourish'd in the Scene is damn'd in the Ruelle. 1814Orpheus i. ii, They crowd the trembling poet's scene.
b. the scene opens or is opened: a phr. used to express the beginning of the action of a play, or of an act or scene. Cf. F. ouvrir la scène, ‘commencer la représentation’ (Littré).
1673Settle Empress of Morocco i. i, Scene opens, Muly Labas appears bound in Chains. Ibid. ii. i, The Scene opened, is represented the Prospect of a large River. 1693Rymer Short View Trag. i. 14 The Scene opening presents 15 Grandees of Spain.
4. The place in which the action of a play, or part of a play, is supposed to occur. Hence also, the setting of a dialogue, novel, etc. Phr. to lay the scene (see lay v.1 20 b); to change, shift the scene.
1592Kyd Sp. Trag. iv. iii. 18 Well doon, Balthazar, hang up the Title: Our scene is Rhodes. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. Prol. 2 In faire Verona, where we lay our Scene. 1599― Hen. V, ii. Prol. 42 Vnto Southampton do we shift our Scene. 1611B. Jonson Catiline i. i, As soone..As is a vaile put off, a visor chang'd, Or the scene shifted in our theaters. 1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy 43 He has remov'd the Scene in the same Act from Rome to Catiline's Army, and from thence again to Rome. 1712Addison Spect. No. 357 ⁋7 Asia, Africk, and Europe are the several Scenes of his [Virgil's] Fable. 1725Pope's Odyss. iii. Notes I. 157 The Scene is now remov'd from Ithaca to Pylos. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 5 The scene is laid in Crete.
5. a. A subdivision of an act of a play (or of a short play which is not divided into acts), marked by the entrance or departure of one or more actors (and, in romantic or non-classic drama, often by a change of locale). Hence, the action and dialogue comprised in any one of these subdivisions; a situation between certain actors.
In editions of the Roman dramatists, and of the French classic dramatists, the entrance or exit of any actor makes a new numbered ‘scene’. In the English drama, on the other hand, the ‘scene’ is a distinct subdivision of the act, marked by the fall of the curtain or the leaving of the stage empty; even when the locale and the actors remain the same in two consecutive ‘scenes’, the stage is not supposed to have been occupied continuously through the interval.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus i. i. C iij b, All the versis of this scene be Senarii. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 147 In volewmes full or flat, There is no chapter, nor no seane, That thou appliest like that. 1592Kyd Sp. Trag. iv. i. 187 And all shalbe concluded in one Scene, For there's no pleasure tane in tediousness. 1611Florio, Scena... Also any one scene or entrance of a Comedie or Tragedie. 1665Sir R. Howard Four New Plays To Rdr. b, The Spanish Plays..being nothing but so many Novels put into Acts and Scenes. 1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy 20 [In the ancient drama] it is to be accounted a new Scene, not [1684 p. 14 not only] every time the Stage is empty, but every person who enters, though to others, makes it so; because he introduces a new business. 1678― All for Love Pref. (end), I prefer the Scene betwixt Antony and Ventidius in the first Act, to any thing which I have written in this kind. 1756Foote Engl. ret. fr. Paris Epil., Does not this poisoning scene The sacred right of Tragedy profane. 1783Blair Lect. xlv. II. 496 The entrance of a new personage upon the Stage, forms what is called a New Scene. 1865T. W. Robertson Society Act I. Scene I.—Sidney Daryl's Chambers, in Lincoln's Inn.
b. The pl. is sometimes put for ‘a play’, ‘dramatic writing’.
1664Dryden Rival Ladies Ep. Ded. A 3 b, Following the New way, I mean, of writing Scenes in Verse. 1710Granville Epil. for ‘Brit. Enchanters’ 27 Our Author wou'd excuse these youthful Scenes, Begotten at his Entrance in his Teens.
c. fig.
1577Whetstone Life & Death of Gaskoigne B iij b, His Sean is played, you folowe on the act. 1592Greene Philomela (1615) E 4, Till Fortune..entred into the Theatre of Philomelaes life and beganne to acte a balefull Sceane in this manner. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 38 Dut. What meanes this Scene of rude impatience? Qu. To make an act of Tragicke violence. 1595Lodge Fig for Momus G 1 b, In that shamefull schene of treasons play. 1596Lambarde Peramb. Kent (ed. 2) 407 At this place of the Bishop in Halling, I am drawing on the last Scæne of my life. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 72 We are now to present you upon the Asiatique stage, various Scænes compos'd of a miscelany of subjects. 1648Herrick Hesp., To Mistress Amie Potter, Nature has pre-compos'd us both to Love; Your part's to grant; my Scean must be to move.
d. Mus. = scena 1 b.
1825Danneley Encycl. Mus., Scena or Scene, a piece of music composed of a recitative, an andante or a largo, a larghetto, and an agitato or allegro. The cavatine, or first air, is often separated by a couplet de recitatif. A scene may be for one or more voices.
6. a. The material apparatus, consisting chiefly of painted hangings, slides, etc., set at the back and sides of the stage, and intended to give the illusion of a real view of the locale in which the action of a play takes place; the view thus presented to the spectators at any time during the action of a play. Also, any one of the painted hangings, slides, etc. used for this purpose.
On the Elizabethan stage, the curtain or hanging at the back of the stage, concealing the vestry or green-room, stood in lieu of scenery. Painted scenes and elaborate machinery, the representation of buildings or landscape in perspective, etc., were a principal feature of the privately-produced masques of Jas. I and Chas. I and, later, of the operatic play (see opera 1).
1540[see scenish]. 1605B. Jonson Masque of Blackness, First, for the Scene, was drawne a Landtschap, consisting of small woods,..which falling, an artificiall sea was seene to shoote forth. 1608― Masque at Ld. Hadington's Marr., The scene to this Masque, was a high, steepe red cliffe, aduancing it selfe into the cloudes. 1618B. Holyday Technogamia Prol. marg., Here the vpper part of the Scene open'd, when straight appear'd a Heauen [etc.]. 1625Bacon Ess., Masques, And let the Masquers, or any other, that are to come down from the Scene, have some Motions, vpon the Scene it selfe, before their Comming down. 1633Shirley Tri. Peace 7 A Curtaine being sodainly drawne up, the Sceane was discovered representing a large streete with Sumptuous Pallaces. 1656Davenant (title), The Siege of Rhodes Made a Representation by the Art of Prospective in Scenes. And the Story sung in Recitative Musick. 1667R. Flecknoe Damoiselles à la mode, Of Persons represented, Any Italian Scænes with four Doors serving. a1693Aubrey Lives (1898) II. 244 He has some scaenes to it, which in those dayes were only used at masques. 1719Young Busiris iv. (Stage-dir.), The back scene opens. Ibid., Scene shuts on them. 1737Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 315 Back fly the scenes, and enter foot and horse. a1814Gonzanga v. v. in New Brit. Theatre III. 161 All the characters appear lost in astonishment and terror as the scene closes them in. 1904Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 9/1 The opening of the doors at the back of the stage caused a draught which blew over a large fan-scene containing a number of incandescent lights.
fig.1748Hume Philos. Ess. Hum. Underst. vii. (1751) 104 The Scenes of the Universe are continually shifting.
†b. pl. ? A succession of realistically-lighted stage-pictures, telling their story without words or action. Obs.
1625Bacon Ess., Masques, The Alterations of Scenes, so it be quietly, and without Noise, are Things of great Beauty, and Pleasure: For they feed and relieue the Eye, before it be full of the same Obiect. Let the Scenes abound with Light, specially Coloured and Varied. 1650Davenant Pref. to Gondibert 8 Painted History, when with the cousenage of lights it is represented in Scenes, by which we are much lesse inform'd then by actions on the Stage. 1657― Entert. Rutland-Ho. 17 Would you meet to be delighted with Scænes? which is, to be entertain'd with the deception of motion, and transposition of Lights; where, whilst you think you see a great Battel, you are sure to get nothing by the Victory.
c. transf. A curtain or veil; also, a decorative hanging on a wall.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 138 When the greene and crimson scænes [ed. 1677 p. 132 curtains or scenes] of silke were drawne, from this Apollo, wee lookt into a great square court. 1648Herrick Hesper., Upon some women 8 Out-side silk, and out-side Lawne; Sceanes to cheat us neatly drawne. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 194 Instead of Tapistry, they have a kinde of Scenes or Shutters, which serve them also for Pictures.
†d. pl. Used to describe the appearance of strata or clusters of clouds, piled one above another.
1686Goad Celest. Bodies i. xv. 83 Frosty, mist, fair; clouds in scenes. Ibid. ii. ii. 162 We often times see Clouds as in several Stories, Lofts or Scenes, one over another.
7. a. behind the scenes: amidst the actors and stage-machinery, where ordinary spectators are not admitted.
1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy 32 Things hapning in the Action of the Play, and suppos'd to be done behind the Scenes. 1672― Assignation Epil. 21 His Nuns are good, which on the Stage are shown, And, sure, behind our Scenes you'll look for none. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1749, She was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes. 1890All Year Round 29 Mar. 302 (art.), Behind the Scenes at the Lane.
b. fig. Also (with hyphens) as attrib. phr.
1748Chesterfield Lett. 16 Feb., I, who have been behind the scenes, both of pleasure and business. 1812M. Edgeworth Absentee v, Miss Pratt..had obtained the entrée to a number of great houses, and was behind the scenes in many fashionable families. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 158 Another personage of greater importance was behind the scenes in this movement. 1955H. Roth Sleeper ix. 69 His behind-the-scenes directors must have trusted him. 1959Manch. Guardian 23 July 6/6 One version of the behind-the-scenes interview. 1959‘S. Ransome’ I'll die for You xii. 134 He was quietly directing his official resources into a wide, behind-the-scenes investigation.
II. In various established metaphorical uses.
Sense 8 is developed from 4; senses 9–11 from 5, though in sense 9 there is some mixture of sense 6.
8. a. The place where an action is carried on and people play their parts as in a drama. Phr. to enter or appear on the scene, to quit the scene. the scene of action, the place where events are actually happening or business being done.
1594Constable Diana viii. iv, Meeting Heroick feete in euery line, That tread high measures on the Scene of Fame. 1608D. Tuvil Ess. Pol. & Mor. 125 True vertuous actions, are neuer seene vpon the Scene, but when by the necessitie of Lawes, they are enforced to show themselues. 1648Petit. Eastern Assoc. 8 Awakening endlesse war upon our Brittish Scenes. a1658J. Cleveland Wks. (1687) 100 The Sand was always the Scene of Quarrelling. 1659Clarke Papers (Camden) IV. 294 The persones in the proclamacion mencioned having made this citty parte of their scene to act their designe upon. 1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode iii. i, But though these are not My Province, I have Scene enough within To exercise my vertue. 1677Miege Eng.-Fr. Dict. s.v., There will be the Scene of Action this Campaigne, ce sera là le Theatre de la Guerre. 1685South Serm. (1727) I. 388 The viith of the Romans (which has been made the unhappy Scene of so much Controversy about these Matters). 1704Royal Let. 25 June in Lond. Gaz. No. 4037/1 To render that..Kingdom a Schene of Blood and Disorder. 1705Addison Italy Pref., There is [not]..so much as a Mountain or River that has not been the Scene of some extraordinary Action. 1721De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 37 The part I acted on this bloody scene. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, Paris, the scene of her former happiness. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, It was clear she could not quit the scene of action. 1857Livingstone Trav. ix. 181 My arrival on the scene was felt to be so much weight in the scale. 1884Manch. Exam. 16 Feb. 4/6 West Somerset was the scene, yesterday, of the first contested county election under the provisions of the Corrupt Practices Act. 1889Field 19 Jan. 67/3 Whereupon Mr. Calvert's solicitor came upon the scene, with a demand for an undertaking not to offend again. 1926Melody Maker Sept. 61 Since ‘Nelly Kelly's Cabaret’ came on the scene, it's put fresh kick into dancing. 1936W. H. Saumarez Smith Let. 26 June in Young Man's Country (1977) ii. 11, I rode out after breakfast to the scene of action. 1946Rosenthal & Zachery Jazzways 16 By 1907, Bolden had disappeared from the scene, confined to an insane asylum. 1963D. Ogilvy Confessions Advt. Man (1964) ii. 26 By the time I came on the scene, the big advertisers had grown more cautious. 1968Jazz Monthly Apr. 8/1 People like Buddy Collette, Red Callender,..were the big time musicians on the scene then. 1979‘E. Ferrars’ Witness before Fact xv. 150, I don't know what things were like for you before he arrived on the scene, perhaps not so good.
b. The world in which man is an actor; the theatre of this life. Often in phr. (this) scene of things. to quit the scene, to die.
1662H. More Philos. Writ. (1712) Pref. 25 Which makes..the whole scene of things evidently to begin from Adam. 1681S. Parker Demonstr. Law of Nature 112 Who would enter upon this tragical Scene of things onely to appear and so return into dust and silence? 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. 61 The known Course of human Things, the Scene we are now passing through. a1822Shelley Ess., Lett. etc. (1840) I. 225 Life..strips, as it were, the painted curtain from this scene of things. 1870J. H. Newman Gram. Assent ii. viii. 261 This universal living scene of things is after all as little a logical world as it is a poetical.
c. the scene of the crime, the place where a crime has been committed. Also attrib., as scene(s)-of-crime, used esp. to designate (a member of) a civilian branch of the police force concerned with the collection of forensic evidence.
1923A. Christie Murder on Links iv. 51 Now, Monsieur Poirot, you would without doubt like to visit the scene of the crime. 1931D. L. Sayers Five Red Herrings xvi. 175 He didn't take the body with him... Now he's got to get back to the scene of the crime. 1943G. Greene Ministry of Fear i. v. 67 A few elderly men in the C.I.D...might..visit the scene of the ‘crime’. 1954F. Cherrill Cherrill of the Yard iii. 38 Scenes of Crime prints. Ibid. 39 By this arrangement it became much easier to carry out a search with a single Scenes of Crime mark which had been classified in accordance with the single fingerprint system. 1961Observer 21 May 5/3 The War Office have placed an order..for thirty-eight ‘Scene of Crime Kits’, to issue to their security-men. 1971R. Lewis Error of Judgment i. 38 The scene-of-crime unit upstairs have discovered nothing, but one of the constables..came up with a glove. 1972Police Rev. 8 Dec. 1601/2 Certain duties such as those of scenes-of-crime officers..were not performed by the R.U.C. 1977P. Hill Liars iii. 33 The Scene of Crime man went over..the cottage for fingerprints.
d. Some portion of human activity (as delimited by a preceding adj. of place, time, etc.); the realm or sphere (of an activity or interest indicated by a preceding attrib. n.).
1931Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Oct. 786/3 Mr. Masters..is no optimistic observer of the contemporary American scene. 1938D. Baker Young Man with Horn i. v. 52 If Rick had grown up in the present scene he'd probably have had his head perpetually inside a walnut radio cabinet listening to this one or that one playing a tea dance. 1943H. Read Politics of Unpolitical vii. 98 There have been times when he was bored with the social scene, and ‘doodled’ while he stared hopelessly into the future. 1949Ebony Nov. 24 (heading) The jazz scene. 1959L. Lipton Holy Barbarians i. i. 40 Something was happening on the poetry scene in Venice West. 1970Daily Tel. 9 Jan. 3/6 Wilson was not mixed up with the drug scene. 1974Howard Jrnl. XIV. 108 (Advt.), One of the most forceful and controversial writers on the magisterial scene. 1977Listener 17 Feb. 214/2 Without that little building at Swiss Cottage..London's theatre scene would be much duller.
e. slang (orig. U.S. Jazz and Beatniks'). A place where people of common interests meet or where a particular activity is carried on. Hence, more loosely, an activity or pursuit (esp. a fashionable or superior one); a situation, event, or experience; a way of life. Freq. in phrases, as a bad scene, an unpleasant experience; to make the scene, to participate in an event or activity; to arrive (somewhere); (to go) on the scene, (to become) involved in some activity, esp. drug-taking; (not) one's scene (and varr.), (not) what one enjoys or finds interesting.
There is some overlap with sense d above.
1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris vi. 125 ‘Nobody comes on this scene wearin' any green,’ said another taller Negro. 1957N.Y. Times Mag. 18 Aug. 26/3 Scene, any place where musicians play or gather; by extension, any place where people meet or any event they attend. Thus, ‘Let's make the country scene this week-end.’ 1958G. Lea Somewhere there's Music xxi. 179 Something on the scene you don't dig. Ibid., It was a bad scene. It scared me, man. 1958Look 19 Aug. 65/2 The regulars who ‘make the scene’. ‘The scene’, geographically, is a narrow area running about four blocks along Grant Avenue in San Francisco's North Beach district. Ibid. 67/1 Like many on ‘the scene’, she is attracted to Zen Buddhism. 1964New Society 20 Feb. 8/2 What happens to the young drug taker? It can be described..by actually going through the experience, going ‘on the scene’. 1966New Statesman 1 July 26/2 Her final surrender to Clive Francis seems unlikely: his jeans are too baggy for her scene. 1966Melody Maker 15 Oct. 6/6, I decided I wanted to play jazz more than any other scene. 1967Punch 18 Oct. 574/3 They come here to work because it's exciting and new and because it's the scene. 1968M. Richler Cocksure xiii. 74 Like we're having a scene on Saturday night. At Timothy's pad. 1969Oz Apr. 32/1 We've all got different scenes. The whole thing is to get to know each other's trips... Are you on an acid scene? 1970[see make v.1 65 b]. 1975D. Lodge Changing Places ii. 84 Washing up was more his scene than body language. 1977I. Shaw Beggarman, Thief i. viii. 101 He could take a look at the scene and blow if he didn't like it.
9. a. A view or picture presented to the eye (or to the mind) of a place, concourse, incident, series of actions or events, assemblage of objects, etc.
1653Jer. Taylor Serm. for Yr. i. 11 This is the greatest Scene of Majesty that shall be in that [i.e. the last] day, till the Sentence bee pronounced. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 249 At last all vanished, leaving a scene of..lovely trees. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 637 But now prepare thee for another Scene. 1704Pope Summer 59 See what delights in sylvan scenes appear! 1705Addison Italy, Antiq. near Naples 216 About Eight Miles Distance from Naples lyes a very noble Scene of Antiquities. 1715Pope Iliad xvi. 360 The smiling Scene wide opens to the Sight. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. (1787) III. 171 This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xiii, The travellers stopped to admire the scene. 1797Southey Lett. Resid. in Spain xiii. 240 A most curious scene did our dressing-room exhibit. a1828H. S. Vandyk The Light Guitar (Bartlett's Fam. Quots.), Oh, leave the gay and festive scenes, The halls of dazzling light. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxii, We of peaceful London City have never beheld..such a scene of hurry and alarm, as that which Brussels presented. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 72 The scene outside was at once wild, grand, and beautiful.
b. fig. A vista or prospect of something expected or to come.
1762T. Mortimer Ev. Man his own Broker (ed. 5) 173 Light Horse [otherwise called ‘scrip’]..is the Commodity to Jobb with, and opens a most extensive scene of it.
10. a. An action, episode, complication of events, or situation, in real life.
1679Season. Adv. Protest. 3 The Roman Party was never wanting in any bloudy Scene to destroy Christ's Disciples. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables xlii. 44 And 'tis a Pleasant Scene enough, when Thieves fall out among themselves, to see the Cutting of One Diamond with Another. 1766in 3rd Rep. on E. India Comp. App. No. 74 H. of C. Rep. Comm. III. 400 We think the vast Fortunes acquired in the inland Trade have been obtained by a Scene of the most tyrannic and oppressive Conduct that ever was known in any Age or Country. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xiii. 224 You were not made for scenes of danger. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, A scene followed, the like of which is often enacted in higher places and by more important personages. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 18 Not at all disconcerted by the scene that had just occurred, the wily Roman undertook to justify himself. 1878Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 29 Then he disappears from this scene in his career.
b. An episode, situation, etc., forming a subject of narration or description.
c1630Milton Passion 22 These latter [ed. 1673 latest] scenes confine my roving vers. 1704Prior Celia to Damon 112 Say, Shepherd, say: Are these Reflections true? Or was it but the Woman's Fear, that drew This cruel Scene, unjust to Love and You? 1850Smedley (title) Frank Fairlegh, or Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil. 1858Geo. Eliot (title) Scenes of Clerical Life.
11. An exhibition of excited or strong feeling between two or more persons; a stormy encounter or interview. to make (create, have) a scene, to make a disturbance, ‘kick up a row’. [Cf. F. faire une scène (à quelqu'un).]
1761Foote Lyar iii. (1786) 65 My father has got to the bottom of the whole Abington business. Pap. The deuce! Y. Wild. We parted this moment. Such a scene! 1787F. Burney Diary Aug., She counselled me..to avoid complaints that led to scenes of such violence and impropriety. 1804G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 169 The reconciliation should be accompanied with éclat, and..it was intended to make a scene of it. 1831Society I. 252 Aubrey.. had just sense enough to see the folly of making a scene. 1844Disraeli Coningsby viii. vii, From an anticipatory horror of something like a scene. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxiv, Madame de Belladonna made him a scene about you, and fired off in one of her furies. 1887Spectator 10 Sept. 1202 One of those scenes in the House of Commons which now occur once or twice in the week. 1888Poor Nellie 34 You made a regular scene. 1957Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 10 Feb. 11 Kick up a storm—to cause trouble, or create a scene. 1958[see brace v.1 5 c]. 1959T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman ii. 61 I've made him understand That the doctors want you to be free from worry. He won't make a scene. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 255 Two of them rose and followed him out. ‘Don't let's have a scene,’ one of the Rubber Heels said... The other ran his hands over Sneed's jacket.
† III. 12. A screen for the reception of images projected from a lens. Also scene-plate.
1706Phil. Trans. XXV. 2237 A Sevenfoot Telescope was fitted up with a Scene to receive the Species of the Sun cast through it. Ibid. 2239 Mr. Abr. Sharp cast the Species of the Sun on a Scene-plate, behind his Seven foot Glass.
IV.
13. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 11) scene-making, (senses 5 and 6) scene-change; scene-dock [dock n.3], the place in which scenes are stored in a theatre; † scene-drawer = scene-shifter; † scene-keeper, one who has charge of the scenes in a theatre; † scene-man = scene-shifter; scene-painted a., painted with scenes; scene-painter, one who paints scenes or scenery for the theatre; also transf.; scene-painting, the art of painting scenes according to the rules of stage-perspective; fig. descriptive writing in a bold and vivid style; also attrib.; scene-plate (see sense 12); scene-plot, the list and description of the scenes in a play; scene-room, a room where scenes are stored (in quot. fig.); scene-setting vbl. n. and ppl. a., setting a scene; usu. transf. and fig.; so scene-setter; scene-steal v. intr., to appropriate more than one's fair share of attention by one's performance in a scene; so scene-stealer (also transf.), scene-stealing ppl. adj.; † scene-work, dramatic representation; stage-scenery. Also scene shifter.
1952W. Granville Dict. Theatrical Terms 158 *Scene-change, the striking of one scene and the erection of another. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ix. 153 When a situation calls for a scene change the simplest form that this can take is a slow fade to silence over about ten seconds, a pause of three or four seconds, and an equally slow fade in.
1871E. L. Blanchard Diary Mar. in Scott & Howard Life E. L. Blanchard (1891) II. 395 Then to Standard [Theatre]..go behind the scenes and see the wonderful *scene dock. 1885J. K. Jerome On the Stage iii. 29 Piled up at the back, in what was called the ‘scene dock’. 1916[see back stage, backstage n. and adv.]. 1977Times 1 Nov. 14/6 The [Wexford] Opera House..[has] no scene-dock, no workshops, no adequate dressing-rooms.
1709Steele Tatler No. 99 ⁋3 Door-Keepers came out clad like Cardinals, and *Scene-Drawers like Heathen Gods.
1669E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. 280 *Scene-keeper, Coffer-Maker, Wax-Chandler,..one of each.
1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxx, Not molesting him with passionate appeals and *scene-making.
1737Fielding Eurydice Hissed Wks. 1903 III. 409 His levee is compos'd of..box-keepers, *scene⁓men, fiddlers, and candle-snuffers.
1918W. Owen Lett. (1967) 558 *Scene-painted boulders, and all the arts and deceitful devices of Victoria.
1749Smollett Gil Blas vii. viii. (1782) III. 67, I was obliged to undergo the civilities of the *scene-painter, the music [etc.]. 1824Scene-painter [see master n.1 25 d]. 1853[see Churrigueresque a.]. 1882Illustr. Lond. News 16 Dec. 619/3 Scene-painters and scene-shifters.
1754Kirby Perspective ii. vi. 76 The Design of *Scene-Painting, is not only to decorate the Theatre, but to make that Part of it which lies beyond the Stage, appear much longer than it really is. 1821H. C. Robinson Diary 2 Dec. (1967) 71, I have finished Waverley... Its merit lies in portrait and scene painting. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 251, I know my propensity for scene-painting. 1838Macaulay in Trevelyan Life (1880) II. 11 A bold,..scene-painting manner is that which..succeeds best in periodical writing. 1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 305 Scene Painting is an extensive and peculiar walk of art, with its own laws and practical and scientific rules.
1847W. C. Macready Diary 20 Oct. (1912) II. 375 Made one *scene plot of ‘Van Artevelde’, and sent it with note to Stanfield. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage i. 19 The stage-manager, with every detail of the scene-plot in his head, stands directing the whole.
1737Daily Advertiser 4 Feb., And the *Scene-Rooms, Green and Dressing Rooms, to be on the outside of the last mention'd Measure. 1826J. O'Keeffe Recoll. II. 39 The author is often brought into the scene-room to give his opinion on the progress of their work. 1859E. Fitzball 35 Yrs. Dram. Author's Life II. 124 The celebrated Mr Grieve, and his two sons, Thomas and William, the most perfect scene painters in the world..in their scene-room, genius always found a welcome footing. 1881Stevenson Virg. Puerisque (1895) 232 That stage-wardrobe and scene-room that we call the memory.
1974Times 16 Apr. 16/3 Miss Tanburn will kick-off one of the panel discussions with a half-hour *scene-setter. 1978Language LIV. 353 Only three functions—subject, topic, and relator—are assigned by the rules of H's sample and DDG of English, although a fourth (scene-setter) is mentioned in the text.
1963Times Lit. Suppl. 17 May 358/3 A biographer with a sense of character, an eye to *scene-setting. 1968P. Foot Politics of Harold Wilson 11 The two most important scene-setting subjects are food and the weather. 1972M. Gilbert Body of Girl xx. 183 With a little care and scene-setting it could be made to look very convincing. 1977D. Williams Treasure by Degrees iii. 34 The Prince's finery and the size of his entourage—natural scene-setting for an important Arab.
1976Woman's Weekly 6 Nov. 6/2 Trish Van Devere, who not only plays Beauty in the movie (and guess who *scene-steals as the Beast!) but in real life also happens to be Mrs George C. Scott. 1978Radio Times 18–24 Mar. 16/3 Director Jules Dassin's wife Melina Mercouri turns every trick to scene-steal from Morley and Ustinov.
1955T. Sterling Evil of Day xviii. 193 These lousy actors are all *scene-stealers. 1960Vogue Pattern Book No. 4. 51 The addition of demure puffed sleeves makes it the scene-stealer of more sedate occasions. 1977M. Hinxman One-Way Cemetery xiii. 94 It's not the leading role, but it's a scene-stealer.
1963Times 29 Jan. 11/1 Mr. Craig's is a good, workmanly Cavaradossi, a little stiff and never *scene-stealing. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Mar. 323/2 A small but scene-stealing knockabout part.
1642Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 261 Likening those grave controversies to a piece of Stagery, or *Scene-worke where his owne Remonstrant..must of all right be counted the chiefe Player. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Architecture, Counterfeit Architecture, which we otherwise call Scene-Work.
Hence † scened pa. pple., displayed or set as in a stage-scene, staged; ˈscening vbl. n., furnishing with stage-scenery.
1691Sancroft in D'Oyly Life (1821) II. 17 Our course of employment and action [continues] the very same, only not scened so illustriously; nor set off with so good company and conversation. a1750A. Hill Wks. (1753) I. 105 It were a downright shame, if these good people, who gave the Tragedy all its merit, of fine dressing and sceneing, should be suffered to lose their money.
▸ colloq. (chiefly Brit., esp. in gay and lesbian usage). A social environment frequented predominantly by homosexuals; gay and lesbian bars, clubs, etc., as a social scene (sense 8e). Usu. with the. Cf. non-scene adj.
1969Jeremy 1 iii. 25/1 At the upper-end of the scene is the kept-boy who has little or nothing in common with the humbler ‘rent-boy’. 1988J. Cockburn Lonely Hearts xi. 210 For many gays the scene is their world and their spiritual home. 1990Rouge Winter 23/1 There was much more socialising in those days than there is now. Mind you, I don't go out into the scene now, because the scene bores me. 1995M. Lewis Singapore: Rough Guide 26/2 Homosexuality is officially outlawed in Singapore... However, a discreet scene does exist. 1998Gay Times Aug. 28/4 (advt.) Medium-built, straight-acting M, 22, likes pubs & clubs, not into the scene. WLTM M, similar age, for friendship.
▸ scene queen n. slang (a) a woman who is prominent in a particular scene (sense 8e), esp. a particular music scene; (b) (esp. in gay usage) a homosexual man who goes to gay bars, clubs, etc., esp. one who is very camp or ostentatious; a prominent or highly active participant in the gay social scene.
1990Orlando Sentinel Tribune (Nexis) 17 Aug. 24 The group strays gratifyingly far from the usual rock subjects, discussing..the life of a bored *scene queen in ‘My Friend Goo’. 1994San Francisco Examiner (Nexis) 8 Feb. b1 Only Danny could drag so many scene queens into one room. 1999R. T. Davies Queer as Folk: Scripts Episode 5. 128 Cameron. I think that makes you officially a scene queen. Vince. I'm not. (Beat) I just go out a lot (Beat) How come you don't? Cameron. Vince. What is there, on that street, that's going to surprise me?
▪ II. scene
obs. form of seine. |