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minstrel
Definitions
[ˈmɪnstr(ə)l], (Noun)
Definitions:
- a medieval singer or musician, especially one who sang or recited lyric or heroic poetry to a musical accompaniment for the nobility
(e.g: they listened to the minstrels singing songs of knightly prowess)
- a member of a band of entertainers, typically white actors with blackened faces, who performed in a type of stage entertainment prevalent in the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries, featuring songs, dances, and formulaic comic routines based on stereotyped depictions of African Americans
(e.g: the exaggerated dialect of blackface minstrels)
Phrases:
Origin
:
Middle English: from Old French menestral ‘entertainer, servant’, via Provençal from late Latin ministerialis ‘servant’ (see ministerial)
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definition by Oxford Dictionaries