Vaudeville,
a term applied to a 15th century Norman folk-song, which originated with Oliver Basselin, who lived in the Val or Van de Vire. Its characteristics were perpetuated in plays interspersed with songs, called Vaudevilles, and occasionally Virelais. In the United States the term denotes light theatrical entertainments of a mixed character.
Entry from
Everybody's Cyclopedia,
1912.