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silhouette

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Silhouette and silhouetté

English

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A silhouette papercutting from 1771.
Photographic silhouette, taken at sunrise.
A silhouette of a skate.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French silhouette, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), French Controller of Finances. De Silhouette's penny-pinching led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as cheap or austere, such as an outline filled only with black.

Étienne de Silhouette's surname is, in turn, gallicized Basque. It derives from from Ziloeta or Zilhoeta, modern Basque Zulueta, from the local plural (see -ak) stem of zulo (“hole, cave”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌsɪ.lʊˈwɛt/, /ˌsɪ.ləˈwɛt/, /ˌsɪ.luːˈwɛt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

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silhouette (plural silhouettes)

  1. An illustrated outline filled in with a solid color(s), usually only black, and intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details; a similar appearance produced when the object being viewed is situated in relative darkness with brighter lighting behind it; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be. [mid 19th c.]
    I could see a silhouette of a figure looking out from the window, but I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.
    • 1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
      At Stirling, we obtained a wonderful silhouette view of the Wallace Monument, and the dark line of the Ochil Hills, and the castle stood out clearly against the afterglow of the sunset.
  2. (fashion) The outline of a garment as it appears on the wearer.
    A-line is a classic silhouette for dresses and skirts.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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silhouette (third-person singular simple present silhouettes, present participle silhouetting, simple past and past participle silhouetted)

  1. To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette. [late 19th c.]
    • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35:
      Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.
    • 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:
      Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel.

Further reading

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French

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /si.lwɛt/, /si.lu.ɛt/
  • Audio; “une silhouette”:(file)

Etymology 1

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After Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), French Controller of Finances. De Silhouette's penny-pinching led to the term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as cheap or austere, such as an outline filled only with black.

Étienne de Silhouette's surname is, in turn, gallicized Basque. It derives from from Ziloeta or Zilhoeta, modern Basque Zulueta, from the local plural (see -ak) stem of zulo (“hole, cave”).

Noun

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silhouette f (plural silhouettes)

  1. silhouette
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Dutch: silhouet
  • → English: silhouette
  • → Portuguese: silhueta
  • → Romanian: siluetă
  • → Turkish: silüet

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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silhouette

  1. inflection of silhouetter:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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