rehearsaln.
/rᵻˈhəːsl/, U.S. /rəˈhərs(ə)l/, /riˈhərs(ə)l/ 1.
a. The action or fact of recounting or reciting something, or of repeating something previously heard, written, or spoken; narration, recital, repetition; (also) the action of mentioning a number or set of things one by one; enumeration. Also: an instance of this. Formerly esp. in †to make rehearsal.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > [noun]
rehearsalc1405
rehearse1429
repetition1579
spouting1581
hersall1590
recitation1623
absolutiona1637
rendition1851
rep1858
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) G. §3. l. 852 Forgat I to maken rehersaille Of watres corosif and of lymaille.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 6494 Blowe forþe by fame, By rehersaille of þe foule blame.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 500 (MED) Leernyng is þe firste taking of a kunnyng, and remembring is þe rehercel of þe same kunnyng to stabile and conferme and holde þe same leernyng.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 36 Holi Scripture makith rehercel of many treuthis.
a1500 (?a1410) J. Lydgate Churl & Bird (Lansd.) 44 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 470 Whilom ther was..As myn auctour makith rehersail, A cherl.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. ccxxviii. [ccxxiv.] 711 The erle of Derby spake certayne wordes.., wenynge that they shulde neuer haue ben called to rehersall.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xviijv The rehersall of euery sinne particularly is not necessary.
1599 Warning for Faire Women i. 682 I can make rehearsal of the words Did pass betwixt you, if I were disposed.
1671 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue III. 120 The rehearsal of that Adventure pleased them as much as the other.
1697 K. Chetwood Life Virgil in J. Dryden tr. Virgil Wks. sig. *4v This Poem being now in great forwardness, Cæsar..would needs be entertained with the rehearsal of some part of it.
1726 tr. J. Cavalier Mem. Wars Cevennes iv. 303 I would save his Majesty the pain of hearing the rehearsal of them.
1782 Excellent Coll. Pious & Devout Medit. ii. 35 I omit here to speak of [these]... For if I should make rehearsal of them, I should never make an end.
1788 J. Trusler Habitable World Described II. 274 A kind of prayer-wheel..containing written prayers;..each motion of a written prayer being considered efficacious as a rehearsal of it.
1842 S. Knowles Rose of Arragon ii. i. 27 Many..made it a pretext for rehearsal of old grievances.
1870 in Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. II. xxiii. 192 The rehearsal of the tragedy of Captain Cook's death.
1899 T. Veblen Theory of Leisure Class vi. 122 All ritual has a notable tendency to reduce itself to a rehearsal of formulas.
1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey xi Therefore make your best speed back into daylight, noting all things as you go, for rehearsal hereafter to your wife.
1994 Nat. Hist. Apr. 4/2 Our burgeoning press provide enhanced opportunity for rehearsal of such narrishkeit ad nauseam.
b. An account or detailed description of a fact, incident, etc.; a narrative, a report; (in later use) esp. a repetition of something previously heard, written, or spoken. Also: an enumeration of a number or set of things; a catalogue.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > [noun] > a narrative or account
talec1200
historyc1230
sawc1320
tellinga1325
treatisec1374
chroniclec1380
process?1387
legendc1390
prosec1390
pistlec1395
treatc1400
relationc1425
rehearsal?a1439
report?a1439
narrationc1449
recorda1450
count1477
redec1480
story1489
recount1490
deductiona1532
repetition1533
narrative1539
discourse1546
account1561
recital1561
enarrative1575
legendary1577
enarration1592
recite1594
repeat1609
texture1611
recitation1614
rendera1616
prospect1625
recitement1646
tell1743
diegesis1829
récit1915
narrative line1953
society > communication > information > reporting > [noun] > a report
reckoningc1390
reporta1425
instruction1425
rehearsal?a1439
rapport1454
estatec1475
reportationc1475
reapport1514
remonstrancea1533
account1561
state1565
credit1569
referendary1581
delivery1592
tell1743
compte rendu1822
rundown1943
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. l. 1034 (MED) Bochas..among othir in his rehersailles..tellith..the gret discencioun Atween Hanybal &..Scipioun.
a1467 in Cal. Proc. Chancery Queen Elizabeth (1827) I. p. lxxviii The seid sir William and his brethren shuld be..coarted by duresse to seale certeyn endentures of covenantez, [and] to make rehersalez to their grete sorow.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. xxiii. f. x For ye more party they that wrote ye faytes or dedes of Brytons make but a short rehersayll of these .v. kynges.
?1542 H. Brinkelow Complaynt Roderyck Mors xxv. sig. H5v (heading) A brefe rehersal, conteynyng the somme of all that is hetherto spoken.
1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan ii. v. 73 Now that I have made a rehearsall of the birds..I will give you a description of the beasts.
1708 Dodwell in T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 23 Nov. (O.H.S.) II. 152 His Rehearsals are full of excellent reasoning as well as wit.
1785 W. Evans tr. R. Prichard Morning Star 43 A Rehearsal of Christ's Love towards the World.
1791 B. Y. Prime Columbia's Glory 19 So future times The sweet rehearsal shall regale; Those glorious deeds of thine Tradition shall reveal.
1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Church (1847) iii. 24 His rehearsals of their sayings, and of their accounts of the discourses and miracles of the Lord.
1845 Congress. Globe 27 Jan. App. 261/2 [I] will content myself with a simple rehearsal of facts and reasons.
1905 Amer. Educ. 9 628/1 I think a rehearsal of experiences in these particulars would prove valuable to us all.
1978 Nature 26 Oct. 777/1 A rehearsal of the old controversy with Leibniz of a decade earlier over questions of priority in invention.
1996 R. H. O'Connell Rhetoric Bk. Judges ii. 162 The second climax of the Gideon/Abimelech account is a rehearsal of images from the..Deborah/Barak/Jael account.
c. Law. = recital n. 1. rare. Now historical.Only in Coke's Institutes and references to it.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal document > [noun] > paragraph or clause > recital
recital1512
rehearsal1628
recitement1766
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 19 b The rehearsall or preamble of a statute is to be taken for truth.
1715 M. Davies Εἰκων Μικρο-βιβλικὴ 308 What opinion my Lord Coke was of, of Divines interfering with Common-Law's rehearsals, is not so certain.
1995 Cardozo Law Rev. 16 1973 Lord Coke considered the rehearsal or preamble a key to open the understanding of the statute.
d. Psychology. The mental or oral repetition of information in order to commit it to memory. In quot. 1902 perhaps overlapping with sense 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > types of learning > [noun]
rote learning1842
trial and error1894
imitation1895
rehearsal1902
latent learning1929
e-learning1997
the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > memorization > [noun] > by repeating
repetition1537
rehearsal1902
1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man v. 188 Our memories..are first formed, then frequently rehearsed, then the intervals of rehearsal grow wider, then the images become indistinct, and at last they sink into oblivion.
1935 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 47 66 Reminiscence..has not yet been demonstrated to occur independently of review, either intentional rehearsal or casual revival, during the interval between the two tests of retention.
1960 O. H. Mowrer Learning Theory & Behavior x. 365 A telephone number will be ‘remembered’, without rehearsal, for a short time after it is seen in a directory (or heard spoken), but will then usually be lost quite completely.
2004 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 117 514 All that is necessary to achieve a high rate of recognition failure is the suppression of rehearsal.
2.
a. A practice performance of all or part of a play or other work, in preparation for later public performance. Also (in later use): a trial performance of a ceremony, as a wedding, state occasion, etc.camera, dress, piano, technical rehearsal, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > by going through beforehand
practising?a1425
rehearse1463
exercitation1475
practice1504
rehearsal1579
woodshedding1927
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > production of performance > rehearsal
rehearse1463
rehearsal1579
dressed rehearsal1793
dress rehearsal1812
full-dress rehearsal1821
run-through1905
walkthrough1940
stagger1964
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > by going through beforehand > specifically a ceremony
rehearsal1814
1579–80 in P. Cunningham Extracts Accts. Revels at Court (1842) 159 Rehersinge of dyvers plaies..and their sondry Rehersells.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. i. 3 Heres a maruailes conuenient place, for our rehearsall . View more context for this quotation
1672 Duke of Buckingham Rehearsal i. 3 This morning is its last Rehearsal, in their habits, and all that, as it is to be acted.
1759 S. Johnson Idler 9 June 177 By degrees he was admitted to Rehearsals.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music (at cited word) Rehearsals, especially of new music, are indispensably necessary.
1814 Ann. Reg. 1813 Chron. 66/1 On Tuesday a general rehearsal took place of the ceremony of the investiture by all those who are to assist in it.
1846 C. Dickens Let. 19 Dec. (1977) IV. 680 We have a Rehearsal with Scenery and band.
1885 M. Collins Prettiest Woman in Warsaw I. vii. 123 I will..call rehearsal for the next day.
1903 Munsey's Mag. Mar. 947/2 The first act of ‘The Cavalier’ contains..an impromptu rehearsal for a wedding, [and] a glimpse of the marriage itself.
1937 J. Agate Diary 13 Oct. in Selective Ego (1976) 90 Have seen no rehearsals, and have no idea how the play is getting on.
1977 Times 24 Mar. 2 (heading) Ulster trip by Princess becomes rehearsal for Queen's visit.
1991 P. McGilligan George Cukor ix. 220 Cukor applauded him vigorously, asking the actor why he hadn't done it like that in rehearsals.
b. The action or process of rehearsing something, or of being rehearsed. Usually following prepositions, esp. in in rehearsal.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [adverb] > being rehearsed
in rehearsal1698
1698 Pendragon 175 The Mixture was as universal As that of Grand Dance in Rehearsal.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 1. ⁋6 The Town is at present in very great Expectation of seeing a Comedy now in Rehearsal.
1728 Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 95 The second part of the Beggar's Opera..was almost ready for rehearsal.
1762 T. Mortimer Brit. Plutarch XII. 106 The comedy of Wedding Day was put into rehearsal.
1826 J. C. Robertson & T. Byerley Percy Anecd. XVII. 106 He was so prolix and tedious in the rehearsal of his character.
1860 F. W. Robinson Grandmother's Money vi. iv The opera was put in rehearsal, and the most trying time to dramatic or operatic authors succeeded.
1890 F. Barrett Between Life & Death II. xxvi. 148 A new spectacle was..put up for rehearsal after Christmas.
1929 T. Gordon Born to Be 170 He insisted upon me singing it... During rehearsal, we tried to show him it was a dog.
1958 T. Williams Let. 18 Aug. in Five O'Clock Angel (1991) 154 You know how good swimming is for my nerves when I have a play in rehearsal.
1973 L. Hellman Pentimento 175 We were still in rehearsal, about a week before the play was to open in Baltimore.
2004 Opera Now Mar. 125/1 Two months before the performance we were in rehearsal with a fantastic group of totally committed and gifted singers.
Compounds
C1. General attributive (in sense 2.)
rehearsal break n.
ΚΠ
1942 N. Corwin Thirteen by Corwin 82 The soliloquy beginning ‘How can we justly celebrate’ and continuing through ‘Let's drop this random dreaming’ was written during a rehearsal break, to fill out the play to twenty-nine minutes thirty seconds.
2005 Kansas City (Missouri) Star (Nexis) 8 Sept. h1 ‘To a large extent I was removed from the impact of the films because I didn't live here,’ the trim actress said during a rehearsal break a few weeks ago.
rehearsal clothing n.
ΚΠ
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola III. xi. 117 Could he not strip himself of the past, as of rehearsal clothing..to robe himself for the real scene?
1997 Globe & Mail (Canada) (Nexis) 10 Dec. c3 Opening it, he exposed its jumbled contents—sweaty rehearsal clothing, books, pens, even a stray banana.
rehearsal complex n.
ΚΠ
1964 Winnipeg Free Press 14 Nov. 54/2 This is the new multi-purpose theatre, concert hall, recital and rehearsal complex to be built west of the Rideau Canal.
2007 News of World (Nexis) 22 July This time we worked on the songs in a crumbling rehearsal complex in mid-town Manhattan.
rehearsal hall n.
ΚΠ
1874 N. Amer. & U.S. Gaz. 16 Feb. The hundreds of citizens who were unable to obtain admission into the main hall, organized a meeting in the large rehearsal hall, on the first floor.
1960 ‘E. McBain’ Give Boys Great Big Hand x. 107 Unfurnished rehearsal halls and the cubbyhole offices of music publishers.
1992 D. Spoto Laurence Olivier xiii. 323 Olivier was honored with a quiet teatime celebration in the rehearsal hall at Aquinas Street.
rehearsal period n.
ΚΠ
1879 Baily's Monthly Mag. Apr. 340 Scent, too, was satisfactory in this rehearsal period, and not a few good gallops were enjoyed before the homing of hay and corn for the season.
1948 T. Williams Let. 10 July in Five O'Clock Angel (1991) 4 I stayed through the rehearsal period and in Brighton as long as there seemed to be any use for me at all.
2000 Opera Now Jan. 36/2 We allow the long rehearsal period which can accommodate last-minute changes.
rehearsal pianist n.
ΚΠ
1917 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel 27 Jan. 6/2 The music was sung by a chorus of forty voices accompanied by the city orchestra, with Mrs. Erman Shank, who was rehearsal pianist.
2005 P. Guralnick Dream Boogie 716 The one extant track from his original August 1956 pop session (with just a rehearsal pianist for accompaniment).
rehearsal room n.
ΚΠ
1797 Encycl. Brit. IX. 529/1 Laudicoeni, amongst the Romans, applauders, who for reward entered the rehearsal-rooms, attended the repetition of plays.
1852 Evangelical Christendom 6 37/2 Let us pass, for a little, from the rehearsal room to the stage.
1998 A. Warner Sopranos 245 The window in the rehearsal room..was still open.
rehearsal schedule n.
ΚΠ
1910 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 7 Dec. 6/2 Preceding the coming midwinter concert in January the regular rehearsal schedule will be adhered to.
2008 T. Moore & A. Bergman Acting Song ix. 253 A rehearsal schedule provides the actors with a blueprint of how the show will be put together.
rehearsal space n.
ΚΠ
1918 G. P. Baker in Plays of 47 Workshop Introd. p. xv As the possessions of The Workshop in the way of scenery and properties became too numerous and cumbersome to be stored away in odd places, Harvard College put storage and rehearsal space at its disposal.
1990 G. Matlock & P. Silverton I was Teenage Sex Pistol (BNC) 75 A first real taste of independence. And it meant we had a regular rehearsal space.
rehearsal studio n.
ΚΠ
1927 Washington Post 15 May f6 A hearing was given to the aspiring young Russian in the improvised rehearsal studio back stage.
2001 S. Hardingham London (ed. 5) iv. 44 A Victorian red-brick school building has been restructured to provide..four dance and theatre rehearsal studios.
C2.
rehearsal band n. Jazz a big band that meets for enjoyment and practice, or to play new compositions and arrangements, only occasionally performing in front of an audience; (now also) a smaller group of musicians that meet informally to play big band music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > company of instrumentalists > [noun] > band > type of
waits1298
consort1587
wait player1610
wind music1650
the fiddles1676
military band1775
German band1819
street band1826
brass band1834
promenade band1836
horn-band1849
pipe band1867
wind-band1876
Hungarian band1882
jazz band1916
jazz orchestra1916
big band1919
road band1922
Schrammel quartet1924
showband1926
spasm band1926
dance-band1927
marching band1930
name band1932
ork1933
silver band1933
sweet band1935
Schrammel orchestra1938
pop band1942
jug band1946
steel band1949
rehearsal band1957
skiffle band1957
ghost band1962
support band1969
support group1969
scratch band1982
1957 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 15 Sept. b15/5 The wartime days when there were 24 rehearsal bands going here at the same time.
1969 Down Beat 17 Apr. 19/3 There have been any number of rehearsal bands around New York in the past 10 years.
1986 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 2 Apr. c9 We called friends who are musicians and said ‘Let's start a little rehearsal band and see where it goes.’
2006 T. S. Jenkins I Know what I Know 165 Mitchell took to the project excitedly and assembled a rehearsal band to develop some of the tunes.
rehearsal dinner n. North American a dinner held after a wedding rehearsal, usually in the evening before the wedding, and traditionally hosted by the groom's family.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > meal > feast > [noun] > feasts for other occasions
plough feast1355
king ale1472
natal1484
primifeste1551
mayor's feast1578
sheep-shearing feast1586
sheep-shearing1611
christening1617
bean-feast1805
updrinking1819
Thanksgiving dinner1830
bump supper1845
potlatch1858
stag1904
rehearsal dinner1906
1906 Town & Country 21 Apr. 5/3 There is to be a rehearsal dinner that night and the wedding will take place the following day in Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church.
1963 A. Vanderbilt New Compl. Bk. Etiquette ix. 93 It is becoming more and more popular for the wedding rehearsal to be held in the late afternoon the day before the wedding, followed by a rehearsal dinner, which may be scheduled for six-thirty or seven o'clock.
2007 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 18 Mar. (Herald-Times ed.) f2/1 One restaurant we like can do a menu of appetizers and light bites... [This] can be more fun and festive than a traditional sit-down rehearsal dinner.
rehearsal party n. (a) a party at which something is rehearsed; (b) North American a party held after a wedding rehearsal, usually in the evening before the wedding (cf. rehearsal dinner n.).
ΚΠ
1844 Family of Seisers I. xix. 136/2 It was rehearsed in Mr. Bungsprunger's garret..until Sandy finding it a dry business, and that it brought no custom to the bar, broke up the rehearsal parties.
1888 Atlanta Constit. 26 Apr. Rehearsal party. The rehearsal..for the marriage..was followed by a pretty reception at the home of the bride-elect's parents.
1993 Atlanta Daily World 20–21 May 7/1 He even had a rehearsal party scheduled in order to give Atlantans and others the opportunity to invest in [the play].
2008 Herald (Rock Hill, S. Carolina) (Nexis) 3 Aug. 6 c A rehearsal party was hosted by the bridegroom's parents at the Long Room at McCrady's on the eve of the wedding.
rehearsal script n. chiefly Television and Theatre the script used during rehearsals; esp. the initial script prepared by the writer.
ΚΠ
1960 D. Wilson Television Playwright 16 The plays in this book are printed in ‘Rehearsal Script’ form, that is to say, the manuscript as the author wrote it. In the Cinema this would be called a ‘Master-scene Script’.
1990 20th Cent. Lit. 36 359 A sixty-five-page rehearsal script for the Abbey Theatre's production of Moses' Rock.
2008 West Australian (Perth) (Nexis) 22 May 6 Knight finished what he hopes will be the final rehearsal script last week and it will have its first reading with cast members this weekend.
rehearsal sermon n. Christian Church (now historical) a sermon that summarizes or responds to an earlier one; spec. any of the sermons delivered on the first Sunday after Easter, esp. at St Paul's Cross, London, constituting the final part of the Easter sermon series, and intended to summarize or respond to the preceding four Easter sermons (cf. spital sermon n. at spital n. 1b).
ΚΠ
?1541 M. Coverdale Confut. Standish sig. Dvv Either in the rehearsall sermon or other wyse.
1591 R. Greene Second Pt. Conny-catching sig. D West-ward they go, and there solemnely make a rehearsall sermon at Tibourne.
1631 F. Lenton Characterismi sig. D6v She with the French-hood her mother, doe pace with much pompe and equipage to the Spittle, to the Rehearsall Sermons.
1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation xliii. 432 He made the Rehersal Sermons at Paul's Cross; repeating Memoriter the Spital Sermons preached at Easter.
1813 B. Brook Lives of Puritans I. 377 During the three first years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Dr. Sampson delivered the rehearsal sermons at Paul's cross.
2000 T. Stern Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan (2007) ii. 25 John Hoskins published a rehearsal sermon about repetition.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1405