Library / English Dictionary

MINSTREL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A singer of folk songs

Synonyms:

folk singer; jongleur; minstrel; poet-singer; troubadour

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("minstrel" is a kind of...):

singer; vocaliser; vocalist; vocalizer (a person who sings)

Instance hyponyms:

Guthrie; Woodrow Wilson Guthrie; Woody Guthrie (United States folk singer and songwriter (1912-1967))

Pete Seeger; Peter Seeger; Seeger (United States folk singer who was largely responsible for the interest in folk music in the 1960s (born in 1919))

Derivation:

minstrel (celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A performer in a minstrel show

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("minstrel" is a kind of...):

performer; performing artist (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minstrel"):

corner man; end man (a man at one end of line of performers in a minstrel show; carries on humorous dialogue with the interlocutor)

interlocutor; middleman (the performer in the middle of a minstrel line who engages the others in talk)

Holonyms ("minstrel" is a member of...):

minstrel show (a troupe of performers in blackface typically giving a comic program of negro songs and jokes)

Derivation:

minstrel (celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "minstrel" is one way to...):

sing (produce tones with the voice)

Domain category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue minstrel

Derivation:

minstrel (a singer of folk songs)

minstrel (a performer in a minstrel show)

Credits