‖ coulisse
(kulis)
[F. coulisse, subst. use of fem. of coulis, in OF. couleïs = Pr. coladitz flowing:—L. type *cōlātīcius, f. cōlāre in Romanic to flow.]
1. A groove or channel in which a sluice-gate or movable partition slides up and down.
| 1864 Webster, Coulisse, a piece of timber having a groove in which something glides. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Coulisse, a grooved piece of timber. A pair of battens, or a groove in which a sluice-gate moves up and down. |
2. One of the side scenes of the stage in a theatre; also the space between them, the wings.
| 1819 H. Busk Vestriad v. 81 And whistling through the long coulisses roar With blustering threats behind the side stage door. 1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead ii. i, The gossip of the coulisses. |
| fig. 1856 Sat. Rev. II. 265/1 Those experienced in the coulisses of the political and religious world. |
3. The body of outside dealers on the Paris Stock Exchange; similar dealers in other stock exchanges in provincial France and elsewhere; also, the place where they deal. Also
attrib. Hence
couˈlissier, one who deals on the coulisse.
| 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 557/2 The Bourse now consists of two distinct bodies, known as the parquet and the coulisse... The coulisse are the outside dealers or brokers, but..these comprise firms of solid standing, bankers, and arbitrage houses. 1910 Ibid. VII. 308/1 The name coulissier was thus given to unauthorized agents de change, or ‘outside brokers’ who..were finally given a recognized status in 1901. Ibid. XXV. 933/2 A portion of the bourse may be railed off to which only agents de change have the right of entry, the rest of the bourse being known as the coulisse. 1911 F. W. Hirst Stock Exchange iii. 89 Such securities..often are dealt in on the coulisse, which may be described as the curb market, so called because in former times the bankers and coulissiers thronged a narrow passage called La Coulisse. 1930 Economist 31 May 1217/2 Similarly, the new scale of Coulisse brokers' commission rates..is regarded. Ibid. 7 June 1280/1 All this..is being repeated..in the ‘coulisses’ of the Bourse [in Turkey]. 1965 Perry & Ryder Thomson's Dict. Banking (ed. 11) 175/2 The unofficial dealers from the Coulisse. |
4. A corridor; also
fig., as a place ‘behind the scenes’ (
cf. corridor 4).
| 1903 A. Bennett Truth about Author xv. 195 His knowledge of the coulisses of the various arts is wonderful. 1949 I. Deutscher Stalin v. 145 Stalin continued to do his job in the twilight of the coulisse. 1958 Spectator 31 Jan. 138/2 Gathering remunerative rumours in ministerial coulisses. Ibid. 14 Feb. 207/1 Foreign politics is reduced here to the tittle-tattle of the coulisses. 1968 D. Torr Treason Line 40 The real business of the conference would begin..in the coulisses. |