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o cut cloth to pieces. (b) To slaughter; as, to cut an army to pieces. -- To cut a play (Drama), to shorten it by leaving out passages, to adapt it for the stage. -- To cut rates (Railroads, etc.), to reduce the charges for transportation below the rates established between competing lines. -- To cut short, to arres…

sthenics patterned on the theories of François Delsarte (1811 -- 71), a French teacher of dramatic and musical expression.

The unraveling or discovery of a plot; the catastrophe, especially of a drama or a romance.

uls, as much as a dessert spoon will hold, usually reckoned at about two and a half fluid drams.

Lit., given; hence, in a literary work, as a drama or tale, that which is assumed as to characters, situation, etc., as a basis for the plot or story. W. E. Henley.

Same as Dram.

One who drinks drams; a tippler. [Obs.] Tatler.

er of speech. -- Dumb crambo. See under crambo. -- Dumb show. (a) Formerly, a part of a dramatic representation, shown in pantomime. "Inexplicable dumb shows and noise." Shak. (b) Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story in dumb show. -- To strike dumb, to confound; to astonish; to render silent by asto…

times, esp. to the architecture or literature of her reign; as, the Elizabethan writers, drama, literature. -- n.

The interval of time which occurs between the performance of any two acts of a drama.

so, any public show; a display of works of art, or of feats of skill, or of oratorical or dramatic ability; as, an exhibition of animals; an exhibition of pictures, statues, etc.; an industrial exhibition.

A composition, as in music, or in the drama, designed to produce effect by its wild irregularity; esp., a musical caricature.

The plot, story, or connected series of events, forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem. The moral is the first business of the poet; this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral. Dryden.

Puppets caused to perform evolutions or dramatic scenes by means of machinery; also, the representations in which they are used.

A low style of comedy; a dramatic composition marked by low humor, generally written with little regard to regularity or method, and abounding with ludicrous incidents and expressions. Farce is that in poetry which "grotesque" is in a picture: the persons and action of a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false.…

, and usually very thin to allow of heating solutions. -- Pocket flask, a kind of pocket dram bottle, often covered with metal or leather to protect it from breaking.

See Fluid dram, under Fluid. Pharm. of the U. S.

A shop or room where strong liquors are sold and drunk; a dramshop.

Intense publicity for a future event, performed in a showy or excessively dramatic manner suggesting an importance not justified by the event; as, the hype surrounding the superbowl is usually ludicrous. [PJC]

The dramatic practice or purpose characteristic of the writings of Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), Norwegian poet and dramatist, whose best-known plays deal with conventional hypocrisies, the story in each play thus developing a definite moral problem.