CHARADE

charade, a kind of riddle, probably invented in france during the 18th century, in which a word of two or more syllables is divined by guessing and combining into one word (the answer) the different syllables, each of which is described, as an independent word, by the giver of the charade. charades may be either in prose or verse. of poetic charades those by w. mackworth praed are well known and excellent examples, while the following specimens in prose may suffice as illustrations. "my _first_, with the most rooted antipathy to a frenchman, prides himself, whenever they meet, upon sticking close to his jacket; my _second_ has many virtues, nor is its least that it gives its name to my first; my _whole_ may i never catch!" "my _first_ is company; my _second_ shuns company; my _third_ collects company; and my _whole_ amuses company." the solutions are _tar-tar_ and _co-nun-drum_. the most popular form of this amusement is the acted charade, in which the meaning of the different syllables is acted out on the stage, the audience being left to guess each syllable and thus, combining the meaning of all the syllables, the whole word. a brilliant example of the acted charade is described in thackeray's _vanity fair_.