mummer — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A person who dons a disguising costume, as for a parade or a festival.

2. An actor in a pantomime; one who communicates entirely through gesture and facial expression.

   Synonyms

   mime

   Examples

   [To] perform as mummers, who act in relays of eight, at the worship of ancestors.

Verb

1. Synonym of mum (“to act in pantomime or dumb show”).

   Examples

   There is a general agreement that niggering [blackface performance] took over from mummering to keep up the old custom.

   More examples (1)

   We mummered taverns and restaurants and the airport (the dead man went round and round on the luggage carousel). We mummered Portuguese fishing trawlers in the harbour, where the show worked despite the language barrier, […]

Noun

1. an actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression

   Synonyms

   mimemimerpantomimerpantomimist

   Broader terms

   actorhistrionplayerthespianrole player