Noun

(es)

A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.

The circus will be in town next week.

A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.

Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.

(historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.

(military, World War II) A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.

* RAF Web - Air of Authority

... the squadron (No. 452) moved to Kenley in July 1941 and took part in the usual round of Circus , Rhubarb and Ramrod missions.

(obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.

The narrow circus of my dungeon wall. — Byron.

Noun

(wikipedia vaudeville)

(historical, uncountable) A style of multi-act theatrical entertainment which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s.

(historical, countable) An entertainment in this style.

* {{quote-news, year=2008, date=January 28, author=Ben Brantley, title=Ta-ta! Give ’Em the Old Existential Soft-Shoe, work=New York Times citation

, passage=“Me, Myself and I,” directed by Emily Mann and engagingly acted by a cast that includes the invaluable Albee veteran Brian Murray, is in the tradition of Mr. Albee’s mid- and late-career works like “The Marriage Play” and “The Play About the Baby”: fragmented philosophical vaudevilles that turn the most fundamental questions of identity into verbal soft-shoes. }}