- pag|eant
- pag|eant «PAJ uhnt», noun, verb.–n.1. an elaborate spectacle; procession in costume; pomp; display; show: »
The coronation of the new king was a splendid pageant.
2. a) a public entertainment that represents scenes from history, legends, or the like: »Our school gave a pageant of the coming of the Pilgrims to America.
b) a drama or series of scenes played outdoors by local actors: »a children's Christmas pageant.
3. Figurative. an empty show, not reality: »These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air…And like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind (Shakespeare).
4. a) Archaic. a stage or platform, usually moving on wheels, on which scenes from medieval mystery plays were presented. b) a similar stage bearing any kind of spectacle.5. Archaic. any dramatic piece or play: »This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in (Shakespeare).
6. Archaic, Figurative. anything viewed as a drama within which one has a part, such as a course of duty or the course of a life.–v.t.to honor with a pageant; celebrate with pageantry: »He pageants us (Shakespeare).
╂[Middle English pagent, pagen; origin uncertain; probably < Late Latin pāgina scaffold, stage; plank < Latin, page1]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
