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vignette

 [vin-yet]   Origin

vi·gnette

   [vin-yet] noun, verb, -gnet·ted, -gnet·ting.
noun
1.
a decorative design or small illustration used on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter.
2.
an engraving, drawing, photograph, or the like that is shaded off gradually at the edges so as to leave no definite line at the border.
3.
a decorative design representing branches, leaves, grapes, or the like, as in a manuscript.
4.
any small, pleasing picture or view.
5.
a small, graceful literary sketch.
verb (used with object)
6.
Photography. to finish (a picture, photograph, etc.) in the manner of a vignette.

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Vignette is always a great word to know.
So is bridging shot. Does it mean:
a shot that views the action from the opposite side of the previous shot, giving the effect of looking from one actor to the other.
a shot inserted in a film to indicate the passage of time between two scenes, as of a series of newspaper headlines or calendar pages being torn off
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Origin:
1745–55; < French: literally, little vine (see vine, -ette); so called from vinelike decorations in early books

Related forms
vi·gnet·tist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To vignette
Collins
World English Dictionary
vignette (vɪˈnjɛt)
 
—n
1.  a small illustration placed at the beginning or end of a book or chapter
2.  a short graceful literary essay or sketch
3.  a photograph, drawing, etc, with edges that are shaded off
4.  architect a carved ornamentation that has a design based upon tendrils, leaves, etc
5.  any small endearing scene, view, picture, etc
 
—vb
6.  to finish (a photograph, picture, etc) with a fading border in the form of a vignette
7.  a.  to decorate with vignettes
 b.  to portray in or as in a vignette
 
[C18: from French, literally: little vine, from vignevine; with reference to the vine motif frequently used in embellishments to a text]
 
vi'gnettist
 
—n

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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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

vignette
1751, "decorative design," originally a design in the form of vine tendrils around the borders of a book page, especially a picture page, from Fr. vignette, from O.Fr., dim. of vigne "vineyard" (see vine). Sense transferred from the border to the picture itself, then (1853)
EXPAND
to a type of small photographic portrait with blurred edges very popular mid-19c. Meaning "literary sketch" is first recorded 1880, probably from the photographic sense.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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