peep show

noun

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of peep show

: an entertainment (such as a film) or object (such as a small picture) that is viewed through a small opening or a magnifying glass and is usually sexually explicit

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Recent Examples of peep show from the Web

From a thriving theater to a peep show to one of the most highly desirable buildings in the community, the historic Lincoln Park Theater has had quite a run.

— brandon patterson, Detroit Free Press, "Historic Lincoln Park theater goes from XXX films to affordable housing," 9 Apr. 2018
Each chapter or two offers some new perversity, a peep show whose cost is getting through Monk’s otherwise insipid prose.

— mike mariani, Slate Magazine, "Nativism, Violence, and the Origins of the Paranoid Style," 22 Mar. 2017
James also disapproves when Gina begins dressing more provocatively, dyeing her straw-colored hair light blond and, during a visit to Barcelona to see her sister (Ahna O’Reilly), watching a peep show featuring a couple copulating in animal masks.

— michael o’sullivan, idahostatesman, "‘All I See Is You’: A thriller with more marital melodrama than mystery," 26 Oct. 2017
One company, with 300 peep show machines, was said to have netted $1.5 million in 1969.

— gail sheehy, Daily Intelligencer, "Wide Open City/Part 1: The New Breed," 8 Sep. 2017
The old Times Square of pimps, prostitutes, peep shows, porn flicks and paddy wagons is gone, replaced by a different kind of hustle, aimed at tourists.

— richard turner, WSJ, "This Fall, the Drama of a Squalid Times Square," 6 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peep show.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.