back-cloth star
- noun
- UK
:
estrella de fondo
- After years of hard work, she was content with being a back-cloth star in the regional theater company.
Examples
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Even as a back-cloth star, he earned the respect of his colleagues and local audiences.
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Many talented performers are proud to be known as a back-cloth star within their own niche community.
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The actor became a back-cloth star in the local theater.
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Many back-cloth stars struggle to gain recognition.
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After years of hard work, she was content with being a back-cloth star in the regional theater company.
-
Even as a back-cloth star, he earned the respect of his colleagues and local audiences.
-
Many talented performers are proud to be known as a back-cloth star within their own niche community.
How Famous
Surface Forms
Morphology
back-cloth + star
The first element 'back-cloth' is rare and not a conventional English word for most learners; knowing 'back' + 'cloth' might suggest a backdrop or something at the back, and combining that with 'star' gives a plausible inference of a background or locally known performer. Because the link between 'back-cloth' and the senses 'supporting role' or 'limited fame' is inferable but requires specific theatrical/world knowledge and is not transparently lexicalized, this is only partially predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun back-cloth star may come from old theatre stages where the back-cloth was the plain curtain at the back and the star stood in front of it, visible to local audiences but not the big, famous performer. So a back-cloth star means someone who is well known in a small circle or who plays a 'supporting role'.