Stage whisper

Stage whisper
Stage Stage (st[=a]j), n. [OF. estage, F. ['e]tage, (assumed) LL. staticum, from L. stare to stand. See {Stand}, and cf. {Static}.] 1. A floor or story of a house. [Obs.] --Wyclif. [1913 Webster]

2. An elevated platform on which an orator may speak, a play be performed, an exhibition be presented, or the like. [1913 Webster]

3. A floor elevated for the convenience of mechanical work, or the like; a scaffold; a staging. [1913 Webster]

4. A platform, often floating, serving as a kind of wharf. [1913 Webster]

5. The floor for scenic performances; hence, the theater; the playhouse; hence, also, the profession of representing dramatic compositions; the drama, as acted or exhibited. [1913 Webster]

Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. --C. Sprague. [1913 Webster]

6. A place where anything is publicly exhibited; the scene of any noted action or career; the spot where any remarkable affair occurs; as, politicians must live their lives on the public stage. [1913 Webster +PJC]

When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Music and ethereal mirth Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring. --Miton. [1913 Webster]

7. The platform of a microscope, upon which an object is placed to be viewed. See Illust. of {Microscope}. [1913 Webster]

8. A place of rest on a regularly traveled road; a stage house; a station; a place appointed for a relay of horses. [1913 Webster]

9. A degree of advancement in a journey; one of several portions into which a road or course is marked off; the distance between two places of rest on a road; as, a stage of ten miles. [1913 Webster]

A stage . . . signifies a certain distance on a road. --Jeffrey. [1913 Webster]

He traveled by gig, with his wife, his favorite horse performing the journey by easy stages. --Smiles. [1913 Webster]

10. A degree of advancement in any pursuit, or of progress toward an end or result. [1913 Webster]

Such a polity is suited only to a particular stage in the progress of society. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

11. A large vehicle running from station to station for the accommodation of the public; a stagecoach; an omnibus. ``A parcel sent you by the stage.'' --Cowper. [Obsolescent] [1913 Webster]

I went in the sixpenny stage. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

12. (Biol.) One of several marked phases or periods in the development and growth of many animals and plants; as, the larval stage; pupa stage; z[oe]a stage. [1913 Webster]

{Stage box}, a box close to the stage in a theater.

{Stage carriage}, a stagecoach.

{Stage door}, the actors' and workmen's entrance to a theater.

{Stage lights}, the lights by which the stage in a theater is illuminated.

{Stage micrometer}, a graduated device applied to the stage of a microscope for measuring the size of an object.

{Stage wagon}, a wagon which runs between two places for conveying passengers or goods.

{Stage whisper}, a loud whisper, as by an actor in a theater, supposed, for dramatic effect, to be unheard by one or more of his fellow actors, yet audible to the audience; an aside. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • stage whisper — n. 1. a loud whisper by an actor on the stage, heard by the audience but supposed not to be heard by other actors on stage 2. any similar loud whisper meant to be overheard …   English World dictionary

  • stage whisper — n 1.) a loud ↑whisper used by an actor in a play which the other actors on the stage seem not to hear 2.) a loud ↑whisper that is intended to be heard by everyone …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • stage whisper — stage whispers also stage whisper N COUNT If someone says something in a stage whisper, they say it as if they are speaking privately to one person, although it is actually loud enough to be heard by other people …   English dictionary

  • stage whisper — ► NOUN ▪ a loud whisper by an actor on stage, intended to be heard by the audience …   English terms dictionary

  • stage whisper — noun count a way of speaking in which you pretend to talk very quietly but can be heard clearly by other people …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • stage whisper — noun (C) 1 an actor s loud whisper that other actors on the stage seem not to hear 2 a loud whisper that is intended to be heard by everyone: “What s going on?” I demanded in a stage whisper …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • stage whisper — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms stage whisper : singular stage whisper plural stage whispers a way of speaking in which you pretend to talk very quietly but can be heard clearly by other people …   English dictionary

  • stage whisper — noun Date: 1864 1. a loud whisper by an actor that is audible to the spectators but is supposed for dramatic effect not to be heard by one or more of the actors 2. an audible whisper • stage whisper verb …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • stage-whisper — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ intransitive verb Etymology: stage whisper : to speak in a stage whisper …   Useful english dictionary

  • stage whisper — {n. phr.} A loud whisper intended to reach other ears than those of the person(s) addressed. * /Some jokes should be told in a stage whisper./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

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