AFTERPIECE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does afterpiece mean? 

• AFTERPIECE (noun)
  The noun AFTERPIECE has 1 sense:

1. a brief dramatic piece (usually comic) presented after a play

  Familiarity information: AFTERPIECE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AFTERPIECE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A brief dramatic piece (usually comic) presented after a play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("afterpiece" is a kind of...):

piece (an artistic or literary composition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "afterpiece"):

exode (a farcical afterpiece in the ancient Roman theater)

 Context examples 

“An afterpiece instead of a comedy,” said Mr. Bertram.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If we are to act, let it be in a theatre completely fitted up with pit, boxes, and gallery, and let us have a play entire from beginning to end; so as it be a German play, no matter what, with a good tricking, shifting afterpiece, and a figure-dance, and a hornpipe, and a song between the acts.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)