pantomimes

Noun

pantomime (countable and uncountable, plural pantomimes)

1. (archaic) A Classical comic actor, especially one who works mainly through gesture and mime.
   • [He] saw a pantomime perform so well that he could follow the performance from the action alone.1865, Edward Burnett Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization
2. (Ancient-Rome, Ancient Greece) The drama in ancient Greece and Rome featuring such performers; or (later) any of various kinds of performance modelled on such work.
3. (UK) A traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children and involving physical comedy, topical jokes, call and response, and fairy-tale plots.
   • With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2015

   Synonyms:

   panto

4. The act of gesturing without speaking; a dumb-show, a mime.
   • A staid, steadfast man, whose life for the most part was a telling pantomime of action, and not a tame chapter of sounds.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 26”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

See all 6 meanings of pantomime