The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scene \Scene\, n. [L. scaena, scena, Gr. skhnh` a covered place,
a tent, a stage.]
1. The structure on which a spectacle or play is exhibited;
the part of a theater in which the acting is done, with
its adjuncts and decorations; the stage.
[1913 Webster]
2. The decorations and fittings of a stage, representing the
place in which the action is supposed to go on; one of the
slides, or other devices, used to give an appearance of
reality to the action of a play; as, to paint scenes; to
shift the scenes; to go behind the scenes.
[1913 Webster]
3. So much of a play as passes without change of locality or
time, or important change of character; hence, a
subdivision of an act; a separate portion of a play,
subordinate to the act, but differently determined in
different plays; as, an act of four scenes.
[1913 Webster]
My dismal scene I needs must act alone. --Shak.
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4. The place, time, circumstance, etc., in which anything
occurs, or in which the action of a story, play, or the
like, is laid; surroundings amid which anything is set
before the imagination; place of occurrence, exhibition,
or action. "In Troy, there lies the scene." --Shak.
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The world is a vast scene of strife. --J. M. Mason.
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5. An assemblage of objects presented to the view at once; a
series of actions and events exhibited in their
connection; a spectacle; a show; an exhibition; a view.
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Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
--Addison.
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6. A landscape, or part of a landscape; scenery.
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A sylvan scene with various greens was drawn,
Shades on the sides, and in the midst a lawn.
--Dryden.
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7. An exhibition of passionate or strong feeling before
others; often, an artifical or affected action, or course
of action, done for effect; a theatrical display.
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Probably no lover of scenes would have had very long
to wait for some explosions between parties, both
equally ready to take offense, and careless of
giving it. --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]
Behind the scenes, behind the scenery of a theater; out of
the view of the audience, but in sight of the actors,
machinery, etc.; hence, conversant with the hidden motives
and agencies of what appears to public view.
[1913 Webster]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
99 Moby Thesaurus words for "behind the scenes":
DR, alive to, appreciative of, apprised of, awake to, aware of,
back to back, backstage, before an audience, before the footlights,
behind, behind the curtain, behind the veil, camouflaged, causal,
causative, cognizant of, concealed, conscious of, constitutive,
covertly, decisive, determinative, disguised, down left,
down right, downstage, effectual, etiological, formative, hep to,
hidden, imperceptible, in a corner, in a whisper, in back of,
in darkness, in hidlings, in secret, in the background,
in the dark, in the know, in the limelight, in the rear,
in the secret, indiscernible, informed of, insensible, institutive,
invisible, latent, let into, mindful of, no stranger to,
nobody the wiser, occasional, off stage, on the stage, on to,
onstage, originative, out of sight, pivotal, privy to, secret,
secretly, seized of, sensible of, sensible to, sightless,
sotto voce, streetwise, sub rosa, submerged, tandem, unapparent,
unbeheld, unbeholdable, undeceived, under the breath,
under the rose, undercover, underground, undiscernible, unnoticed,
unobserved, unperceivable, unperceived, unrealized, unseeable,
unseen, unviewed, unwitnessed, up left, upright, upstage, viewless,
wise to, with bated breath