Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • a meeting, usually held in the summer outdoors or under a temporary tent, providing public lectures combined with entertainment such as concerts and plays. It originated in the village of Chautauqua, N. Y., in 1874, and was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also, a meeting similar to this.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Where to stay: Boulder's 112-year-old Chautauqua district (900 Baseline Rd.; 303-442-3282; chautauqua. com) is a picturesque haven for education and relaxation alike, often drawing companies and teacher associations for retreats and seminars.

    In Boulder, Colo., Bring Your Dog Kris Hudson 2010

  • Bob Fest: for a freewheeling political chautauqua.

    The Live Fix with Chris Cillizza 2010

  • We love to dance, we like to drink, we love to chat and discuss just about everything, we love to eat, we like to sing--our own chautauqua.

    Meet the Mad Hatter doyle 2008

  • I object to the complete and utter lack of adequate notice—or any sort of notice for that matter—regarding the purpose and basis for this chautauqua.

    Again to Carthage Jr. John L. Parker 2007

  • “We are hopeful that at the end of this, uh, chautauqua, you will voluntarily remove yourself from the starting field for the United States Olympic Marathon Trials tomorrow morning.”

    Again to Carthage Jr. John L. Parker 2007

  • I object to the extra-legal form of this chautauqua and its lack of basis in the bylaws of the Amateur Athletics Congress.

    Again to Carthage Jr. John L. Parker 2007

  • I object to the public nature of this chautauqua and the presence of the media, said Cassidy.

    Again to Carthage Jr. John L. Parker 2007

  • In July a chautauqua stopped in Canyon and filled the warm evening air with the sounds of Scottish bagpipes, Italian ballads, and a female Hungarian quartet.

    Portrait of An Artist Laurie Lisle 1986

  • One day when lecturing at an Iowa chautauqua, I remained in the beautiful park for the noonday meal.

    The Mother and Her Child William S. Sadler

  • Some three years later Mr. Cook was on our chautauqua program at

    Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures George W. Bain

Comments

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  • "The Sophists, however, functioned something like the chautauquas and public lecturers in nineteenth-century America, who went from place to place delivering talks to audiences hungry for information and ideas."

    - Rebecca Solnit, in Wanderlust, p 15 of the Verso paperback edition (2006)

    December 24, 2008

  • a key word upon which a major theme of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is built!

    February 15, 2012