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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A saucy, coquettish, intriguing maidservant in comedies or comic opera.
  2. n. An actress or a singer taking such a part.
  3. n. A young woman regarded as flirtatious or frivolous.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Theat., a maidservant in comedy, frequently a lady's-maid. The part is usually characterized by coquetry, pertness, effrontery, and a spirit of intrigue: by extension the term is applied to almost any part exhibiting these qualities.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A female servant or attendant, especially as mischievous or cheeky, often featuring in theatrical comedies

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A female servant or attendant; specifically, as a term of the theater, a lady's maid, in comedies, who acts the part of an intrigante; a meddlesome, mischievous female servant or young woman.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a minor female role as a pert flirtatious lady's maid in a comedy
  2. n. a pert or flirtatious young girl

Etymologies

  1. French, from Provençal soubreto, feminine of soubret, conceited, from soubra, to leave aside, from Old Provençal sobrar, to be excessive, from Latin superāre, from super, above; see uper in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “In theatre, the term soubrette describes a comedy character who is vain and girlish, mischievous, lighthearted, coquettish and gossipy--often a chambermaid or confidante of the ingenue, she often displays a flirtatious or even sexually aggressive nature.”

    Out of the Mouths of Babes

  • “In classical music and opera, the term soubrette refers to both a soprano voice type and a particular type of opera role.”

    Out of the Mouths of Babes

  • “The Chevalier Cocona, who had the misfortune to be suffering from a venereal disease, gave me up his mistress, a pretty little 'soubrette'; but in spite of the evidence of my own eyes, and in spite of the assurances she gave me, I could not make up my mind to have her, and my fear made me leave her untouched.”

    The Complete Memoirs of Jacques Casanova

  • “They married the following year and she became the leading lady and soubrette in the Williams and Walker Company, soon after becoming famous in her own right as a performer of the Cakewalk.”

    The Cakewalk | Edwardian Promenade

  • “Smoke is semi-gallantly seeking to help Lucille Arral, "the singing soubrette of the tiny stock company that performed nightly at the Palace Opera House," and to make a fast buck while putting some life into a moribund Dawson.”

    “I am only a wild girl, and I am afraid of the world....”

  • “The cabin boy in question, is on one of the bettor's yacht headed for Honolulu and when "he" falls overboard and is helped back on deck, is discovered by the yachtsman to be a girl, "a chit of a child" of 16, an orphan and "a soubrette of no mean ability.”

    “Living hand to mouth. . .”

  • “A soubrette voice is light with a bright, sweet timbre, a tessitura in the mid-range, and with no extensive coloratura.”

    Out of the Mouths of Babes

  • “Rarely does a singer remain a soubrette throughout her entire career.”

    Out of the Mouths of Babes

  • “The soubrette roles are typically found in comic operas or operettas and they usually portray good-looking, youthful girls who are both flirtatious, saucy, and street wise.”

    Out of the Mouths of Babes

  • “Although she had little formal schooling, she showed considerable promise as an actor, and by age twelve she was earning her living playing soubrette roles in repertory.”

    Fania Marinoff.

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  • grant_barrett This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day. Nov 11, 2009
  • chained_bear "The amateur trotting horses who were just leaving the track from the last race were in a white lather—nervous, quivering, sensitive things. But Dan Patch was the old bored professional. When he looked up at the crowd it was like an old soubrette peeping through the curtains. He took one look and jogged on with about as much emotion as a butcher's delivery horse."
    —Charles Leerhsen, Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), 318 Oct 28, 2008

‘soubrette’ has been looked up 1710 times, loved by 12 people, added to 47 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.