silhouette

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The dark shape and outline of someone or something seen against a lighter background.

   I could see the silhouette of a figure in the window against the evening sky.

2. 2
   noun

   The overall shape or outline of a garment as worn.

   The dress has a slim, elegant silhouette.

3. 3
   verb

   To show something as a dark outline against a lighter background.

   The mountains were silhouetted against the setting sun.

Simplified etymology

Silhouette, recorded in the late 18th century, comes from the name of the French politician Étienne de Silhouette. Why his name became attached to an outline portrait or a dark outline against a brighter background is uncertain; proposed explanations connect it with his economies, his brief tenure in office, or his own supposed interest in outline portraits.

Borrowed from French silhouette, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), French Controller of Finances. De Silhouette's penny-pinching led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as cheap or austere, such as an outline filled only with black. Étienne de Silhouette's surname is, in turn, gallicized Basque. It derives from Ziloeta or Zilhoeta, modern Basque Zulueta, from the local plural (see -ak) stem of zulo (“hole, cave”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary