Showcase

My mother-in-law recently moved house and found that downsizing had left her less room to scatter her favourite and precious ornaments around her new home. Instead she bought a glass cabinet to stand in the corner of her living room, and all her treasures are now on display there. Which brings us to today’s word: “showcase”, which can be used as a noun or a verb. So, which came first, and when?

If my mother-in-law had lived in Regency times, i.e. the early nineteenth century, she could quite well have told her friends that she had a showcase in her living room, as the noun with its literal meaning of a cabinet for displaying items is recorded from 1803. It wasn’t until 1917 that its figurative use was first recorded though, when it started to be used in settings such as an art exhibition being a showcase for talent.

And what of the verbal usage? As is often the case, the verb followed the noun, and it also first appeared in the US. The literal meaning of displaying in a showcase was first employed in 1926, but the figurative meaning such as of an artist “showcasing” their talent, wasn’t recorded until 1939.

So, if you’re writing a historical novel, it will depend on whether you’re talking about a literal showcase or a figurative one, and whether you’re using the noun or the verb, as to whether you can use the word “showcase” or not. If you can’t, you’ll have to showcase your writing talents and find another suitable word to use instead.