silhouette
Use Silhouette in a sentence
uˈɛt noun
1.
a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing, uniformly filled in with black, especially a black-paper, miniature cutout of the outlines of a famous person's face.
2.
the outline or general shape of something: the slim silhouette of a skyscraper.
3.
a dark image outlined against a lighter background.
verb (used with object)
4.
to show in or as if in a silhouette.
5.
Printing. to remove the background details from (a halftone cut) so as to produce an outline effect.
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Silhouette
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
| chat, to converse |
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
Origin:
1790–1800; < French à la silhouette, after Etienne de Silhouette (1709–67), French finance minister
1790–1800; < French à la silhouette, after Etienne de Silhouette (1709–67), French finance minister
Related forms
un·sil·hou·et·ted, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To silhouette
Collins
World English Dictionary
silhouette (ˌsɪluːˈɛt) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | the outline of a solid figure as cast by its shadow |
| 2. | an outline drawing filled in with black, often a profile portrait cut out of black paper and mounted on a light ground |
| —vb | |
| 3. | (tr) to cause to appear in silhouette |
| [C18: named after Étienne de Silhouette (1709--67), French politician, perhaps referring to silhouettes as partial portraits, with a satirical allusion to Silhouette's brief career as controller general (1759)] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
silhouette
1798, from Fr. silhouette, in allusion to Étienne de Silhouette (1709-67), Fr. minister of finance in 1759. Usually said to be so called because it was an inexpensive way of making a likeness of someone, a derisive reference to Silhouette's petty economies to finance the Seven Years' War, which
were unpopular among the nobility. But other theories are that it refers to his brief tenure in office, or the story that he decorated his chateau with such portraits. The verb is recorded from 1876. The family name is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname; Arnaud de Silhouette, the finance minister's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque country; the southern Basque form of the name would be Zuloeta or Zulueta, which contains the suffix -eta "abundance of" and zulo "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
These hold gadgets closer to the body so that the silhouette is reduced.
There was a defined silhouette: bias-cut skirts created a sinuous shape.
Use some distinctive feature of the place you are visiting as a silhouette against a rising or setting sun.
She jams on the brakes and points ahead-there's one, in silhouette, pacing the road.
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