burlesque

comparative more burlesque · superlative most burlesque · alternative obsolete burlesk

1. datedParodical; parodic

   Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking.

   1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, page 791

   1 more example

   It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.

   1711 December 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

plural burlesques · alternative obsolete burlesk

1. countableuncountableA derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.

   The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, / And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.

   1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry

   2 more examples

   Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accoutrements of heroes, the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people.

   1711 December 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

   “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”

   1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020

   Synonyms: lampoon, travesty

2. countableuncountableA variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
3. countableuncountableA ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.

   Who is it that admires, and from the heart is attached to, national representative assemblies, but must turn with horror and disgust from such a profane burlesque and abominable perversion of that sacred institute?

   1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: imitation, caricature

present singular third person burlesques · participle present burlesquing · participle past burlesqued · past burlesqued · alternative obsolete burlesk

1. To make a burlesque parody of.

   When the venerable New York Times took my quote in which I described the neon elements as "burlesquing the myth of male dominance" and instead printed "he prefers to describe them as . . . symbols of male dominance" it became clear that dealing with journalists was going to be one long, rocky road.

   1988 February 5, Billie Lawless, “Laying Down the Lawless”, in Chicago Reader

2. To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.

   They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule.

   1678, Edward Stillingfleet, A Sermon preached on the Fast-Day, November 13, 1678