Vaude'ville, n.

(vōd'vil), n. [Fr. vaudeville, from Val-de-vire, a village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th century, composed such songs.] [Sometimes written vaudevil or vaudevil.]

1. A kind of song of a lively character, frequently embodying a satire on some person or event, sung to a familiar air in couplets with a refrain; a street song.
2. A theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, sung in familiar airs;—also, sometimes, a drama of a higher order.