penny gaff

plural penny gaffs · alternative penny-gaff · alternative penny gaffe

1. historicalAn entertainment in 19th-century England consisting of short theatrical displays such as dancing, singing, clowning, and plays.

   More sophisticated were the penny gaffes where for a id^([sic]) entrance fee entertainment was provided by hairy men, hairless dogs, gorillas, Aztecs and giants.

   2015, Ed Glinert, East End Chronicles, Penguin UK, →ISBN

   1 more example

   My dear sirs, did you actually imagine that one could not follow every clumsy move you made, with Joolby's low comedy tramp and the other two stealing in like a couple of hired assassins in a penny gaff melodrama?

   1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

   Synonyms: dukey