The noun is a unadapted borrowing from French silhouette, from the surname of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), France’s Controller-General of Finances. It has been suggested that the word refers to one or more of the following: * De Silhouette’s penny-pinching policies which led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as austere or cheap, akin to an outline filled only with black. * The fact that de Silhouette only held the office of Controller-General of Finances for about eight months from 4 March to 21 November 1759. * De Silhouette’s outline portraits which he made to decorate his château at Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne. De Silhouette’s surname is a gallicized form of Basque Ziloeta or Zilhoeta (modern Basque Zulueta), from the local plural stem (see -ak) of zulo (“hole, pit; den, hiding place”), from Proto-Basque *zuLo (“hole”). The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Art, Arts An artistic depiction, often of a person's profile, in the form of an outline without any other visual details, similar to a shadow, made by cutting a piece of black paper, filling in an outline with a solid colour (usually black), etc.
She had a feeble pencil drawing of the vicarage in Dorsetshire, and silhouettes of her father and mother, which were hung up in the lodgings wherever she went.1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Miss Prior is Kept at the Door”, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC, page 60:
[A] portion of the John Boyd Thacher collection of commissions, documents, autograph letters and portraits; a case containing silhouets of famous Colonial personages, a silhouet ring, some smoked silhouets, […]1907 April 4, “Colonial Relics”, in William Hayes Ward, editor, The Independent, volume LXII, number 3044, New York, N.Y.: The Independent, […], →OCLC, page 812, column 2:
2
Broadly A dark outline of someone or something seen against a brighter background.
I could see a silhouette of a figure looking out from the window, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.
All we could see were ghostly-looking silhouettes of ships gliding here and there through the clouds; and I am sure the coachman's remark was quite correct, that it was a pity the day was so misty.1843, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “Belfast to the Causeway”, in The Irish Sketch Book, London; Glasgow: Collins’ Clear-type Press, →OCLC, page 60:
3 more examples
Entering the gate and passing the shrubs, the silhouette of a house rose to view; black, low, and rather long: but the guiding light shone nowhere. All was obscurity.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter II, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 65:
Another second and I saw the black silhouette of the old Zulu raise its arm in mute salute, and Nyleptha was before us.1887, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Before the Statue”, in Allan Quatermain […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 186:
At Stirling, we obtained a wonderful silhouette view of the Wallace Monument, and the dark line of the Ochil Hills, and the castle stood out clearly against the afterglow of the sunset.1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5:
3
Fashion, LifestyleBroadly An outline of a garment as it appears on a wearer.
A-line is a classic silhouette for dresses and skirts.
Dresses have departed from the straight-line severity of last season and show great diversity of design. One may choose the semi-princess silhouet or the flared peplum, the bloused silhouet, the bolero or the caplet effects.1926 February 13, Elita Miller Lenz, “Feminine Frills [Fashion Highlights]”, in The Billboard: The Theatrical Digest and Show World Review, volume XXXVIII, number 7, Cincinnati, Oh.: The Billboard Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 38, column 4:
4
Figuratively A brief written description of someone or something; an outline, a sketch.
[A]t my elbow stood a tall man, young, though probably five or six years older than I—in other respects of an appearance the opposite to common-place; though just now, as I am not disposed to paint his portrait in detail, the reader must be content with the silhouette I have just thrown off; […]a. 1856 (date written), Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter III, in A[rthur] B[ell] Nicholls, editor, The Professor, a Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published 1857, →OCLC, pages 40–41:
The noun is a unadapted borrowing from French silhouette, from the surname of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), France’s Controller-General of Finances. It has been suggested that the word refers to one or more of the following: * De Silhouette’s penny-pinching policies which led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as austere or cheap, akin to an outline filled only with black. * The fact that de Silhouette only held the office of Controller-General of Finances for about eight months from 4 March to 21 November 1759. * De Silhouette’s outline portraits which he made to decorate his château at Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne. De Silhouette’s surname is a gallicized form of Basque Ziloeta or Zilhoeta (modern Basque Zulueta), from the local plural stem (see -ak) of zulo (“hole, pit; den, hiding place”), from Proto-Basque *zuLo (“hole”). The verb is derived from the noun.
1
Often followed by against or upon: to depict (oneself or someone, or something) as a silhouette (noun sense 1 or noun sense 2.1); to project (oneself or someone, or something) upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette.
Often passive voice
We guided ourselves, by the fitful flashes of forked and sheet lightning combined, towards a ghostly point, whose deeper blackness silhouetted it against the shades.1876, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “To Sánga-Tánga and Back”, in Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. […], part I (The Gaboon River and Gorilla Land), London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, […], →OCLC, page 137:
[N]ot only the passing figure of the young girl was seen, but the dazzling green and gold of the hillside, and the far-off silhouetted crests of the Coast Range.1882, Bret Harte, “Flip: A California Romance. Chapter III.”, in Flip; and Found at Blazing Star, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 53:
2 more examples
Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.1929 July, Robert Dean Frisbie, “The Fine Art of Trading”, in The Book of Puka-Puka, New York, N.Y.; London: The Century Co., →OCLC, section II, page 37:
Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel.1944 July–August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 226:
2
To appear as a silhouette.
[T]he distant islands […] lay dark and massive across our path, their huge crowns silhouetting in clear-cut outlines against the eastern sky, […]1884 June, “The North Shore”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXIX, number CCCCIX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 110, column 2: