Definitions

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

  • noun Makeup for a conventionalized comic travesty of black people, especially in a minstrel show.
  • noun An actor wearing such makeup in a minstrel show.

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

  • noun a style of theatrical makeup in which a white person blackens their face in order to portray a negro

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

  • noun the makeup (usually burnt cork) used by a performer in order to imitate a Negro

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

black +‎ face

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