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ventriloquy

 - 3 dictionary results

ven⋅tril⋅o⋅quism

  [ven-tril-uh-kwiz-uhm]
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–noun
the art or practice of speaking, with little or no lip movement, in such a manner that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source, as from a wooden dummy.
Also called ven⋅tril⋅o⋅quy  [ven-tril-uh-kwee] .

Origin:
1790–1800; ventriloqu(y) (< ML ventriloquium, equiv. to LL ventriloqu(us) a ventriloquist (ventri- ventri- + -loquus, deriv. of loquī to speak) + -ium -ium ) + -ism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ven·tril·o·quy   (věn-trĭl'ə-kwē)   
n.  Ventriloquism.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

ventriloquy 
1584, from L.L. ventriloquus, from L. venter (gen. ventris) "belly" + loqui "speak." Patterned on Gk. engastrimythos, lit. "speaking in the belly," which was not originally an entertainer's trick but rather a rumbling sort of internal speech, regarded as a sign of spiritual inspiration or (more usually) demonic possession. Reference to the modern meaning seems to have begun early 18c., and by 1797 it was being noted that this was a curiously inappropriate word to describe throwing the voice. Ventriloquist is from 1656; ventriloquism is from 1797.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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