Definitions

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

  • noun An early movie theater charging an admission price of five cents.
  • noun A player piano.
  • noun A jukebox.

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

  • noun United States A place of entertainment, as for moving picture exhibition, charging a fee or admission price of five cents.
  • noun An early version of a jukebox that was operated by insertion of a nickel{2}.
  • noun Trademark The name of a Cable Television channel, specializing in programs for children.

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

  • noun Alternative form of Nickelodeon.

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

  • noun a cabinet containing an automatic record player; records are played by inserting a coin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[nickel + (Mel)odeon, music hall; see melodeon.]

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Examples

  • Inc. Attention will be focused on 50 major neighborhood and downtown theaters, culled from a list of nearly 250 that have dotted the city's landscape since the first "nickelodeon" opened in 1896 at 626 Canal Street.

    Cinema Treasures 2010

  • Inc. Attention will be focused on 50 major neighborhood and downtown theaters, culled from a list of nearly 250 that have dotted the city's landscape since the first "nickelodeon" opened in 1896 at 626 Canal Street.

    Cinema Treasures 2010

  • Inc. Attention will be focused on 50 major neighborhood and downtown theaters, culled from a list of nearly 250 that have dotted the city's landscape since the first "nickelodeon" opened in 1896 at 626 Canal Street.

    Cinema Treasures 2010

  • They seized film, beat up directors and actors, forced audiences out of theaters, smashed the nickelodeon arcades, and set fire to entire city blocks where they were concentrated.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Not until the producers of nickelodeon movies agreed to censor their own material did the mayor rescind his order.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • With stomachs full and heads adequately instructed, workers would be able to resist the temptations of the nickelodeon, the burlesque show, and the amusement park.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Roses and maybe tickets to the nickelodeon and maybe, next summer, that Coney Island place I keep hearing about . . .

    Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011

  • They moaned, “Oh, you poor thing,” as if Yetta and the other strikers were the damsels in distress in some movie at the nickelodeon—as if the strike were being put on just for their entertainment.

    Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011

  • Roses and maybe tickets to the nickelodeon and maybe, next summer, that Coney Island place I keep hearing about . . .

    Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011

  • They moaned, “Oh, you poor thing,” as if Yetta and the other strikers were the damsels in distress in some movie at the nickelodeon—as if the strike were being put on just for their entertainment.

    Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011

Comments

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  • 1888, "motion picture theater," from nickel "five-cent coin" (the cost to view one) + -odeon, as in Melodeon (1840) "music hall," ult. from Gk. oideion "building for musical performances." Meaning "nickel jukebox" is first attested 1938. (From etymonline.com)

    January 20, 2009

  • I question the 1888 date of this word, though I have no doubt it was listed somewhere (dictionary?) with that date. In its earliest usage, the word referred to the machines (Kinetoscopes), not to the parlors where they were lined up to maximize audience (only one person at a time could view the earliest motion pictures). (See Kinetoscope for more.)

    January 20, 2009