Showmen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who organize and execute public performances to captivate audiences
2. People who travel from place to place presenting entertainment or exhibitions before an audience
3. Individuals engaged in staging or managing traveling events or spectacles for public amusement

Etymology: "Showmen" is simply the plural of "showman," which is formed from "show" and "man." The second element descends from Old English "mann," a word that has meant a human being or a male adult throughout the history of English, and it reached modern English as "-man" in compounds like this one. The first element is the harder part. "Show" has several possible origins: it may come from the verb "to display," from the noun "display," or from "shive," an older word for a slice or a thin piece. Each sense of the word points toward a different picture of the performer, whether someone who puts something on view, or someone who presents a spectacle to be looked at. Whatever its exact source, "showman" describes a person whose work is putting on a public display, and the plural names the whole company of such people.

Synonyms: performers, entertainers