claqueur

noun

1. (historical)A member of the claque employed to applaud during a theatre performance.

   ““Many a clever fellow fails through life, because the silly fellows, whom half a word well spoken could make his claqueurs, turn him into ridicule. Whatever you are, avoid the fault of most reading men: in a word, don’t be a prig!””

   “One hundred and fifty “iron-handed” Vienna theatre claqueurs today formed a trade union, probably the first of its kind in the world. […] The most popular singers have been obliged to give free tickets and even to donate cash, lest the claque retaliate by frantic applause at the wrong moment.”