nickelodeon

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableAmericanold-fashioned

   An early small movie theater in the United States, common in the early 1900s, where a ticket cost five cents.

   Grammar: Used mainly in history: the nickelodeon era.

   Patterns

   • a nickelodeon in somewhere

   Crowds of workers lined up outside the nickelodeon on Saturday nights.

   The first nickelodeon opened in Pittsburgh in 1905.

   Her grandfather ran a nickelodeon before cinemas grew large.

2. 2nouncountableold-fashioned

   A jukebox or similar coin-operated machine that plays music when you put in a coin.

   Grammar: Dated; today jukebox is more usual.

   Patterns

   • play something on the nickelodeon

   He dropped a coin in the nickelodeon and chose a song.

   The diner's old nickelodeon still plays records.

   They danced near the glowing nickelodeon.

Word forms

Common combinations

early nickelodeon

An early nickelodeon showed short films and had wooden benches.

nickelodeon era

The nickelodeon era ended as larger theaters opened.

nickelodeon theater

A nickelodeon theater was often a converted shop.

coin-operated nickelodeon

A coin-operated nickelodeon stood in the corner of the cafe.

visit the nickelodeon

Children saved their nickels to visit the nickelodeon.

Synonyms and how they differ

jukebox

Jukebox is the current word for a music machine, while nickelodeon sounds old-fashioned.

picture house

Picture house is a British term for a cinema and is not tied to a five-cent price.

cinema

Cinema is the general word for a movie theater, while nickelodeon names a small early kind.

Word family

nickel noun

a five-cent coin in the United States

odeon noun

a type of theater from Greek odeion, the second half of the word

nickelodeons noun

plural form

Commonly confused: nickelodeon or Nickelodeon? nickelodeon or melodeon?

Practice

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