pageantryn.
/ˈpadʒ(ə)ntri/, U.S. /ˈpædʒəntri/ 1. Pageants or tableaux collectively; the public performance or display of these.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > mime > tableau > [noun] > collectively
pageantry1609
1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xxii. 6 What pageantry, what feats, what showes, What minstrelsie, and prettie din, The Regent made..To greet the King. View more context for this quotation
a1656 J. Ussher Ann. World (1658) vi. 437 80 women gloriously decked..were carried in litters, having legs of gold, and 500 more in others, whose legs were of silver; These things were most remarkable in the Pageantry.
1714 J. Wyeth Suppl. T. Ellwood's Life (1765) 391 The Pageantry of which Day's Work, as acted there by himself he hath since published with his Name to it.
1773 M. O. Warren Adulateur i. i. 7 We have lately seen a piece of pageantry, Near Imports mansion, big with mighty meaning.
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase II. xlviii. 135 Our innate love of pageantry, inclining us not only to behold scenes but to make and be a part of scenes.
a1894 R. L. Stevenson In South Seas (1896) iii. i. 225 It was impossible to see the place and not to fancy it designed for pageantry.
1908 Daily Chron. 21 July 4/6 The pageantry brings the classes together.
1989 Philadelphia Inquirer 20 Sept. a 17/1 The creeping plasticizing of beauty pageantry.
2. Show without substance; mere acting or show; empty or specious display.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun] > (an) ostentatious display > more ostentatious display
flourish1598
ornament1600
braverya1627
pageantrya1646
flash1674
overbloom1880
top-dressing1884
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > [noun] > of theatrical kind
puppetry1598
play-acting1633
pageantrya1646
theatricalsa1706
histrionics1882
a1646 J. Burroughs Two Treat. (1649) 72 What's become of Agrippa and Bernice with al their pagentry-greatness?
1687 Bp. G. Burnet Contin. Refl. Mr. Varillas's Hist. Heresies 114 After a weeks Pageantry of her Queenship, she was kept there till her Head was cut off.
1715 R. Bentley Serm. Popery 22 The standing Ceremony and continued Pageantry of Transubstantiation.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. ii. iii This reign could subsist only in empty pageantry.
1836 W. Dunlap Thirty Years Ago xix. 173 O, what a contrast is this simple picture, to the impious mockery and insulting pageantry which attends the coronations of European potentates.
a1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Hist. (1855) v. 153 Chivalry had not yet declined to mere formal pomp and pageantry.
1971 B. Sidran Black Talk iii. 59 Garvey's organization was mere pageantry and could not act as a social outlet for this frustration; riots were a more direct means of involving the common Negro.
2000 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 2 Nov. 54/4 This fine mockery of the soldierly profession as all pageantry..is touching.
3. Splendid display; gorgeous, colourful, or spectacular show; pomp. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > splendour, magnificence, or pomp > [noun]
prideOE
nobleyec1300
farec1330
pompc1330
statec1330
rialtya1375
estatec1385
lordliness1440
pompousness1447
noblenessc1450
worthinessc1450
pomperyc1460
affairc1480
gloryc1480
majesty1481
triumpha1513
shine?1529
royalness?1548
sumptuosity1550
triumphing1569
magnificie1570
presence1570
gite1589
equipage1612
majesticalness1613
ceremonya1616
splendour1616
stateliness1637
majesticnessa1643
scheme1647
pageantry1651
grandeur1652
splendidnessa1657
magnanimity1658
magnificency1668
fluster1676
energy1764
pompa1783
panoply1790
pageanting1873
1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. viii. 99 To prove that we are extreamly proud in the midst of all this pageantry.
1673 R. Leigh Transproser Rehears'd 10 Not less ignoble then Cardinal Campejus his Pageantry.
1727 J. Gay Fables I. xi. 37 A peacock with the poultry fed; All view'd him with an envious eye, And mocked his gaudy pageantry.
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc x. 403 Blazon'd shields, and gay accoutrements, The pageantry of murder.
1830 F. D. Hemans Minister in Songs of Affections 166 Revealing through incense-mists their sainted pageantry.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad Concl. 650 Padua..wrapping herself in memories of her lost fleets, of battle and triumph, and all the pageantry of a glory that is departed.
1909 E. Pound Personae 53 Slow-moving pageantry of hours.
2002 India Weekly 2 Aug. 17/1 Bollywood is quite fascinating for the British. It's got colour, pageantry..and drama.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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