ludicrity

Pomp and pageantry have too much of the puppet ſhew to excite any ſentiments in the human breaſt, but thoſe of aſtoniſhment, ridicule, and ludicrity.

1777, H[enry] Hodgson, “Letter I.”, in Letters to Mrs. Kindersley, Lincoln: […] W. Wood. Mr. Wilkie […]; and Mr. Crowder […], London: Mess. Merril’s at Cambridge, published 1778, page 6

Strangers were approaching at the report, and Archer was persuaded to fly, but this he sternly refused, and they proceeded to examine the wounded man, who ferociously persisted that he was dying, and if loss of blood was any indication, he certainly was dying: but even in those moments their gravity almost forsook them, when they saw ludicrity degrading the principles of manhood, and bombast and honor, like a bubble in the air, vanishing before their eyes.

1835, Greg Pullin, chapter IV, in Henry, the Recluse of Devon: or, His First Visit. A Tale from Life., London: […] John Bennett, […], page 72

With Rochefoucault he held that “Flattery was a sort of base coin to which our vanity gave currency;” and he battered to shapeless ludicrity every piece that came in his way, and with a gusto, delightful in its originality and truthfulness.

1860 March 17, F. R. I., “The Fifth Act in a Life Drama. Douglas Jerrold.”, in The Players: “The Abstract and Brief Chronicles of the Time.”, page 93, column 2

A little examination of the glaring absurdity of this defence, the ludicrity of which, by the way, never appeared to suggest itself to the Bench, shows, that supposing the rainfall was even one-tenth of an inch per hour, the amount that could possibly get into the can in twenty-five minutes, if the lid were entirely open, would be less than 0·05 inch of water.

1893 August 26, “Hydrocephalous Isle of Wight Nupkinses”, in Food and Sanitation, volume III, page 249, column 2

However, she refrained from smiling, to save her husband, in these new poses of domestic virtue and lofty resolution, from tumbling into ludicrity and hurting himself with the fall.

1894, Wilfrid Woollam, “En Route”, in With the Help of the Angels: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], page 122