Opera
['ɒp(ə)rə] or ['ɑprə]
Definition
(noun.) a building where musical dramas are performed.
(noun.) a commercial browser.
(noun.) a drama set to music; consists of singing with orchestral accompaniment and an orchestral overture and interludes.
Typist: Ollie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A drama, either tragic or comic, of which music forms an essential part; a drama wholly or mostly sung, consisting of recitative, arials, choruses, duets, trios, etc., with orchestral accompaniment, preludes, and interludes, together with appropriate costumes, scenery, and action; a lyric drama.
(n.) The score of a musical drama, either written or in print; a play set to music.
(n.) The house where operas are exhibited.
(pl. ) of Opus
Editor: Pasquale
Definition
n. a musical drama: a place where operas are performed.—adj. used in or for an opera as an opera-glass &c.—ns. Op′era-cloak a cloak of elegant form and material for carrying into the auditorium of a theatre or opera-house as a protection against draughts; Op′era-danc′er one who dances in ballets introduced into operas; Op′era-glass a small glass or telescope for use at operas theatres &c.; Op′era-hat a hat which can be made flat by compression and expanded again to its full size; Op′era-house a theatre where operas are represented; Op′era-sing′er.—adjs. Operat′ic -al pertaining to or resembling the opera.
Editor: Moll
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of attending an opera, denotes that you will be entertained by congenial friends, and find that your immediate affairs will be favorable.
Typed by Geoffrey
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A play representing life in another world whose inhabitants have no speech but song no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes. All acting is simulation and the word simulation is from simia an ape; but in opera the actor takes for his model Simia audibilis (or Pithecanthropos stentor)—the ape that howls.
Checker: Willa
Unserious Contents or Definition
A drama that has taken on airs and refuses to speak, yet always sings its own praises. GRAND OPERA,An excuse for displaying several boxes of jewelry and peaches with pedigrees."
Edited by Georgina
Examples
- It's like a comic opera to-day. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- He rose with the rest, and surveyed the occupants of the boxes grandly with his opera-glass. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- He had been to the Opera, and knew the merits of the principal actors, preferring Mr. Kean to Mr. Kemble. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- She wanted to go to the Opera. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Carriages and opera-boxes, thought he; fancy being seen in them by the side of such a mahogany charmer as that! William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The stranger at the Opera again! Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She bustled, she chattered, she turned and twisted, and smiled upon one, and smirked on another, all in full view of the jealous opera-glass opposite. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- It has been made the ground-work of one or two novels and an opera by Wagner. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- We have come up to town on purpose to witness an Italian Opera, and we have procured tickets for this box. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Edward Dale saw him at the Opera. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- At the Opera I know she had on dark blue velvet, perfectly plain and flat--like a night-gown. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- There was a church to see, or a picture-gallery--there was a ride, or an opera. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Archer, while he helped her on with her Opera cloak, noticed the exchange of a significant smile between the older ladies. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Sophia looked very splendid in her Opera-box since her marriage, particularly when she wore all the late Lady Berwick's diamonds and her own to boot. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Opera Box-office, he said to the man, and was driven away. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Flower-shows, operas, balls--there was a whole round of gaieties in prospect; and Miss Rachel, to her mother's astonishment, eagerly took to it all. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- But perhaps the chief pleasure he had in these operas was in watching Emmy's rapture while listening to them. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I am ready to go with Annie to operas, concerts, exhibitions, all kinds of places; and you shall never find that I am tired. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Typist: Rosa