Academy Award

English

Etymology

Official name, named after its awarding organization, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈkæd.ə.mi əˈwɔːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈkæd.ə.mi əˈwɔɹd/

Noun

Academy Award (plural Academy Awards)

1. An award in any of various fields related to moviemaking, most prominently acting, generally awarded at a televised gala to winners who then speak; commonly used to indicate a person has been lying with great skill.
   • 1959, Marc Brody, Low Dive for Lola, page xv. 70:

     Lola's performance was academy award standard.

   • 1997, Terry McMillan, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, page 225:

     They still make each other smile and they each brag about how smart and talented and wise and tender the other one is and how lucky each is to have met the other and they actually look happy and if it's a front then I say both of them deserve Academy Awards for their splendid performances.

   • 2000, John Gardner, Day of Absolution‎^[1], Scribner, →ISBN, page 340:

     "Our drawing-room furniture and the corner cupboard will be lovely in this room," Tess had purred. "And we could have the Turner over the mantelpiece; over the Adam fireplace. It would look lovely."
     The agent got hopeful. He particularly liked people who talked about drawing rooms.
     "You ought to get an Academy Award," Ronnie told her later. "Bloody Academy Award you should have. Effing marvelous."

   • 2002, Dorothy Cannell, The Importance of Being Ernestine‎^[2], Penguin, →ISBN:

     Mrs. Malloy's innocent expression merited an Academy Award.

   • 2007, Emma Holly, In the Flesh‎^[3], Black Lace, →ISBN, page 42:

     'You were a geisha?' she breathed. If her interest was feigned, she deserved an Academy Award.

   • 2009, Laura Hayden, Red, White, and Blue‎^[4], Tyndale House, →ISBN, page 88:

     Although Emily had the figure and the bearing to pull off an Academy Award–red carpet–worthy dress, she'd selected something a little more sedate[.]

   • 2009, Christina Wilsdon, Animal Defenses, page 35:

     Going limp and lying still works well for many animals, but a few species deserve Academy Awards for their death-feigning skills.

   • 2010, Nancy Rue, Boyfriends, Burritos & an Ocean of Trouble‎^[5], Zondervan, →ISBN:

     Finally Ms. Dorchester announced that she was calling the defendant, Preston Oliver, to the stand. You'd have thought she was going to give him an Academy Award the way she escorted him to the box. he certainly deserved one. He'd sat at the defense table all day smirking or looking bored out of his mind, but the minute he hit the witness stand, he was the portrait of a concerned citizen, just there to do the right thing. You'd never have known he was on trial for a felony.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Academy Award.

Translations

award

• Burmese: အော်စကာ (auca.ka)
• Dutch: Oscar (nl) m
• Finnish: Oscar, Oscar-palkinto
• Hungarian: Oscar-díj (hu)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Оскар m

  Latin: Oskar

Further reading

• Academy Award on Wikipedia.Wikipedia