picture framen.adj.
/ˈpɪktʃə ˌfreɪm/, U.S. /ˈpɪk(t)ʃər ˌfreɪm/ A. n.
1. Anything which forms the border of a visual image; spec. an ornamental mount or case in which a painting, photograph, etc., is displayed. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > picture-frame
picture frame1668
passepartout1857
Oxford frame1870
riza1927
1668 R. Hooke in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 741 A Contrivance to make the Picture of any thing appear on a Wall,..or within a Picture-frame, &c. in the midst of a Light room.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 100 Husk, is a square Frame of Moulding, like to a Picture Frame.
1733 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. (1776) II. App. 456 In this dining-room many of the picture-frames were scorched.
1762 S. Scott Descr. Millenium Hall 8 A third, carving a picture-frame in wood.
1817 Lady Morgan France v. 29 Arranged along their walls in their perriwigs and picture-frames.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair liii. 474 There were..vast and dirty gilt picture-frames surrounding pieces sporting and sacred.
1936 P. Rotha Documentary Film ii. i. 76 Guidance of the actors in speech and gesture, composition of the separate scenes within the picture-frame.
1996 R. Mistry Fine Balance (1997) i. 20 The picture frame containing her husband's graduation photograph.
2. The gallows or (in early use) pillory.
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society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > hanging > [noun] > gallows
gallowsOE
gallows-treea1000
warytre?a1200
gibbet?c1225
gallow-forka1250
forkc1275
juisec1320
forchesc1380
crossa1382
treec1425
patible1428
justice1484
potencec1500
haltera1533
turning-tree1548
potentc1550
three treesa1566
chates1567
mare1568
furel1587
bough1590
gibe1590
derrickc1600
hangrella1605
cross-tree1638
Gregorian tree1641
wooden horse1642
timber-marec1650
triple tree1651
furca1653
nubbing1673
a horse that was foaled of an acorn1678
nub1699
Tyburn tree1728
raven-stone1738
picture frame1785
crap1789
lamp-iron1790
Moll Blood1818
stifler1818
scragging-post1819
government signposta1828
leafless tree1830
shuggie-shue1836
doom-tree1837
stob1860–62
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Picture Frame, the sheriff's picture frame, the gallows or pillory.
1789 J. O'Keeffe Highland Reel ii. iii. 42 He's as great a rogue as ever stood in the picture frame.
1881 A. Trumble Slang Dict. N.Y., London & Paris 26/2 Picture-frame, the gallows.
1927 Dial. Notes 5 458 I ain't gonna put my neck in no pitcher frame fer no woman.
1998 H. Mantel Giant, O'Brien iv. 53 When you are turned off they call it..the new jig without music, dancing in the sheriff's picture frame.
B. adj. (with hyphen).
Designating something bordered or framed like a painting, etc., esp. a proscenium arch stage in a theatre.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > stage > [adjective] > type of stage
picture frame1928
1804 European Mag. 45 16/2 In a..picture-frame waistcoat, i.e...trimmed with broad gold lace.
1928 J. Dolman Art of Play Production iii. 43 There are many who are ruthlessly condemning the modern theatre for its illusion, its ‘peep-hole’ realism, its ‘picture-frame’ stage.
1959 News Chron. 29 Dec. 4/2 By the late 'sixties the flat 30 in. picture-frame sets hanging discreetly on our walls, masked during non-viewing periods by..a Constable or a Breughel, will be giving us a reasonably good colour picture.
1988 P. Brook Shifting Point (1989) 72 As the theatre developed, and with the advent of the picture-frame stage.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1668