cameo

plural cameos · plural cameoes · plural camei

1. A piece of jewelry, etc., carved in relief.

   SIMONE: And he tracked down Mom's cameo—the one Dad pawned? He outbid fourteen other buyers on eBay.

   2014, Molly Smith Metzler, Elemeno Pea, →ISBN, page 66

   1 more example

   Aarfy's buxom trollop had vanished with her smutty cameo ring, and Nurse Duckett was ashamed of him because he had refused to fly more combat missions and would cause a scandal.

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 433

2. A single very brief appearance, especially by a prominent celebrity in a movie or song.

   Famous comic book writer Stan Lee had a cameo in the Spider-Man movie. He was on screen for perhaps ten seconds, but aficionados distinctly remember him.

   3 more examples

   As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   Southgate will have been delighted to give Foden the first of many England caps while Greenwood will also have enjoyed his taste of international action during his cameo after coming on as a substitute for Kane.

   2020 September 5, Phil McNulty, “Iceland 0-1 England”, in BBC Sport

   Dr. Helen O’Connell, Australia’s first female urologist, recalled that in her own medical training, the clitoris barely made a cameo.

   2022 October 17, Rachel E. Gross, “Half the World Has a Clitoris. Why Don’t Doctors Study It?”, in The New York Times

present singular third person cameos · participle present cameoing · participle past cameoed · past cameoed

1. To appear in a cameo role.