See Also: Mistake(medicine)
Mistake Of Law(law)
mistake(1)(dictionary)
mistake(2)(dictionary)
mistake 1, noun(dictionary)
mistake 2, verb(dictionary)
Mistake Of Fact(law)
theatre(encyclopedia)
little theatre(encyclopedia)
theatre(dictionary)

mistake(2) (iou) and theatre (iou)


mistake(2) (iou)



mistake verb. , (dial. & non-standard) mistook. ME.
[Old Norse mistaka take in error, (refl.) miscarry (Swedish misstaga be mistaken), formed as MIS-1 + taka TAKE verb. Cf. Old French mesprendre (see MISPRIZE verb2), which has prob. influenced the meaning.]
verb intrans. Transgress, do wrong. obsolete exc. Scot. ME.
verb trans. Take improperly or in error. LME-M17.
verb trans. Make an error in the choice of (one's route, target, etc.). Formerly also, make an error regarding (a date, number, etc.); perform (an action) at a wrong time. arch. LME.
E. Young When blind ambition quite mistakes her road.
verb trans. Attach a wrong meaning to the words or actions of (a person); misunderstand. LME.
R. K. Narayan I was only trying to suggest...So please don't mistake me.
b. Have a wrong view of the character of (a person). L16-L17.
verb trans. Have a misconception regarding (an opinion, statement, action, purpose, etc.); attach an erroneous meaning to. L15.
A. J. Ayer My reasoning on this point was not in itself incorrect, but..I mistook its purport.
verb trans. Suppose erroneously to be or to be. L15-M18.
T. Fuller Vincent of Coventrie was..bred a Franciscan (though Learned Leland mistakes him a Carmelite).
verb trans.
a. Be under a misconception about the identity of; take to be somebody or something else; estimate wrongly. Now chiefly in phrs. below. L16.
there's no mistaking it is impossible not to recognize (a person or thing). mistake one's man judge wrongly or underestimate the character or capabilities of the person one is dealing with.
b. Foll. by for: identify wrongly as (some Other person or thing). E17.
R. Dahl The doctor..was so drunk that he mistook the fractured elbow for a dislocated shoulder.
verb intrans. (arch.), & trans. in pass. as be mistaken & (now Scot.) refl. Make a mistake; be in error, be under a misapprehension. L16.
T. Hardy A..greatcoat, which, if he mistook not, was the very same garment as..had adorned the chair. D. L. Sayers You may think that the prisoner was mistaken..about the time he left the flat.
mistakable adjective able to be mistaken or misunderstood M17.
mistaker noun M16.
mistakingly adverb erroneously, mistakenly M17.

theatre (iou)



theatre noun & adjective. Also *Theater. LME.
[Old French t(h)eatre (mod. theatre) or Latin theatrum from Greek theatron, from theasthai behold.]
A. noun.
A building or (esp. in antiquity) a place constructed in the open air, in which dramatic plays or Other spectacles can be performed before an audience. LME.
b. A natural bowl or hollow suggesting an ancient Greek or Roman theatre. LME.
Byron Girt by her theatre of hills.
a. A stage or platform on which a play is acted. Long obsolete exc. fig. LME.
fig.: D. Brewster A noble position on the theatre of public life.
b. A platform, dais, or raised stage, used for a public ceremony. obsolete exc. Hist. M16.
c. The audience at a theatre. E17.
In titles: a book giving an overview of a subject; a manual, a treatise. M16-E18.
fig. A place or region where action takes place in public view; the scene or field of action; esp. (also theatre of war) a particular region or each of the separate regions in which a war is fought. L16.
C. Lyell The theatre of violent earthquakes. W. S. Churchill Larger operations..impend in the Middle East theatre.
a. More fully lecture theatre. A room or building for lectures, scientific demonstrations, etc., with seats in tiers for an audience. E17.
b. More fully operating theatre. A room in a hospital specially designed for surgical operations, orig. one for the performance of operations in front of observers. M17.
c. In full picture theatre. A cinema. Now chiefly N. Amer., Austral., & NZ. E20.
Dramatic performance as an Art, an institution, or a profession; the stage; the production and performance of plays; the drama of a particular time or place, or of a particular writer. (Freq. with the.) M17.
F. Fergusson The attempt is made to draw the deductions, for Sophocles' theatre and dramaturgy, which the present view of Oedipus implies. B. Bettelheim I was so infatuated with the Theater that..I decided to study drama.
b. Theatrical or dramatic Entertainment (of a specified quality); action with the quality of drama or theatrical technique; dramatic effect, spectacle, outward show. E20.
A. J. P. Taylor Austrian Baroque civilisation..was theatre, not reality. Listener You have to admit..the Old City is good theatre. Landscape This room is pure theatrea triumph of scenographic architecture.
Phrases: dinner theatre: see DINNER noun. idols of the theatre: see IDOL noun 5b. lecture theatre: see sense 5a above. little theatre: see LITTLE adjective. living theatre: see LIVING ppl adjective. national theatre: see NATIONAL adjective. operating theatre: see sense 5b above. patent theatre: see PATENT adjective 2. picture theatre: see sense 5c above. saloon theatre: see SALOON 4b. theatre-in-the-round [in the round (b) s.v. ROUND noun1] dramatic performance in the round. Theatre of Cruelty a non-verbal form of drama conceived by the French director Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) and intended to communicate a sense of pain, suffering, and evil through the portrayal of extreme physical violence. Theatre of Fact documentary drama. Theatre of the Absurd drama portraying the futility and anguish of human struggle in a senseless and inexplicable world; transf. absurd or ludicrous events. theatre of war: see sense 4 above.
Comb.: theatre club a theatre for which tickets are sold only to members, esp. in order to circumvent censorship; theatre-goer a person who often attends theatres; theatre-land the district of a city in which most of the theatres are situated; theatre-list: of patients scheduled to undergo surgery; theatre nurse a hospital nurse qualified to assist in the operating theatre; theatre organ = CINEMA organ; theatre party: in which the guests, besides being entertained at dinner or supper, are taken to a theatre; theatre seat (a) a seat in a theatre; (b) a tip-up seat of a kind used in theatres; theatre sister a nurse supervising a nursing team in an operating theatre; theatre workshop a theatre company concerned esp. with experimental and unconventional theatrical productions.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Of or pertaining to a theatre of war; esp. designating nuclear weapons for use in a particular region, as opp. to intercontinental or strategic weapons. L20.
theatreless adjective M19.