Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One, especially an entertainer, who is adept at ventriloquism.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who practises or is skilled in ventriloquism; one who speaks in such a manner that his voice appears to come from some distant place or other quarter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who practices, or is skilled in, ventriloquism.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the onappo; -- so called from the character of its cry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person, especially an entertainer, who practices ventriloquism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a performer who projects the voice into a wooden dummy

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ventriloquy + -ist

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Examples

  • It comes from two words - venter, which means tummy, and loqui, which means to speak - in other words a ventriloquist was supposed to be a man who could speak by using his tummy in some way.

    The Mystery of the Strange Bundle Blyton, Enid, 1898?-1968 1952

  • "In the 10 years I've worked with him, I don't think I've even used the word ventriloquist when I describe him," Brown-Marmel told

    Pollstar Photo RSS Feed 2009

  • "In the 10 years I've worked with him, I don't think I've even used the word ventriloquist when I describe him," Brown-Marmel told

    Pollstar Photo RSS Feed 2009

  • "In the 10 years I've worked with him, I don't think I've even used the word ventriloquist when I describe him," Brown-Marmel told

    Pollstar Photo RSS Feed 2009

  • Conventional creative writing teaching would have us believe that the ventriloquist is a more fully evolved lifeform than the exhibitionist.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Tim Stretton 2008

  • Conventional creative writing teaching would have us believe that the ventriloquist is a more fully evolved lifeform than the exhibitionist.

    :Acquired Taste Tim Stretton 2008

  • The vagaries of a ventriloquist are a matter for roars of laughter.

    A Padre in France George A. Birmingham 1907

  • To date, the ventriloquist is the only variety act to win America's Got Talent in four series - the previous and subsequent winners have all been singers - and it is a feat he is very proud of.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

  • To date, the ventriloquist is the only variety act to win America's Got Talent in four series - the previous and subsequent winners have all been singers - and it is a feat he is very proud of.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

  • To date, the ventriloquist is the only variety act to win America's Got Talent in four series - the previous and subsequent winners have all been singers - and it is a feat he is very proud of.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

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