comicn.adj.
/ˈkɒmɪk/, U.S. /ˈkɑmɪk/ A. n.
1.
a. Chiefly with reference to ancient Greek and Roman drama: a writer, esp. a playwright, who composes a comedy or comedies. Cf. comedian n. 1. Now somewhat rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > humorous writer
comic1549
comedian1580
sarcast1654
scribble-wit1672
farce-writer1681
humorist1871
gag-writer1959
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poet > poet by kind of poem > [noun] > comic poet
comic1549
comediant1568
comedian1580
comic poet1589
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > playwriting > [noun] > playwright > of specific types of play
comicar1523
comedy writer1549
comic1549
comediant1568
comediographer1576
comedian1580
comic poet1589
mimograph1623
mimographer1638
mimic1654
mono-dramatist1803
melodramatist1812
farcer1813
comedist1819
farceur1889
thesis-playwright1902
thick ear1909
music-dramatist1947
compressionist1961
psychodramatist1973
1549 J. Ponet Def. Mariage Priestes sig. A.vii If the prouerbe bee true whyche is vsed of Plautus the Comic.
1588 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) ii. vii. 257 Ita fugias, ne præter casam, as the Comicque sayd.
a1657 W. Burton Comm. Antoninus his Itinerary (1658) 50 Of this Menander the Comick in these two Senaries.
1738 W. Warburton Divine Legation Moses I. Ded. p. x I would say with the old Comic, Utinam malè qui mihi volunt, sic rideant.
1804 Lit. Mag. & Amer. Reg. July 262/2 The comic Plautus..adopted the fable of the Greek in his Mænechmi.
1875 R. Browning Aristophanes' Apol. 310 Times change and we Comics should change too!
1956 H. Wagenvoort Stud. Rom. Lit., Culture & Relig. ii. 40 Menander and the Latin comics Plautus, Caecilius and Terentius are counted among the great old poets.
2001 G. W. Dobrov Figures of Play ix. 160 A new stage in the self-definition of comedy and on the part of a playwright who becomes concerned not only with rivals at eye level (fellow comics) but in a larger..contest for power as maker of culture.
b. An actor who performs in a comedy or comedies, esp. one who specializes in comic roles; = comedian n. 3.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor in specific type of play
comedy player1550
tragedy player1552
comediant1568
tragic1577
tragedian1590
comedian1603
comic1619
interludera1627
pastorista1627
tragicomediana1627
tragedy actor1690
low comedian1740
tragedy man1784
exodiary1793
farcer1813
monopolylogist1830
stock actor1839
beneficiaire1841
monologuist1853
monologist1858
burlesquer1869
opera-bouffer1870
low comedy1885
knockabout1887
farceur1889
folk-player1936
1619 H. Hutton Follie's Anat. sig. A6 Acting a Comicks part vpon the stage.
1673 J. Eachard Free & Impartial Inq. 124 If all be only personated, the Actors are excellent Comicks.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 22. ⁋5 Cave Underhill, who has been a Comick for Three Generations.
1880 Nineteenth Cent. July 144 Alcide Tousez, destined to make his way very soon to the first place among comics.
1927 Cleveland Press 31 Jan. [They] are highly amusing as dancers and knock-about comics.
1961 J. McCabe Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy (1962) i. 38 ‘Stan,’ he said, ‘why do you want to be a comic?’
2002 Times 7 Jan. ii. 20/2 Reject mime outright and you're denying the beauty and physical invention of Charlie Chaplin and a host of silent film comics.
c. An entertainer who tells jokes, adopts a comic persona, or acts in a manner intended to make an audience laugh; (now esp.) a performer of stand-up comedy; = comedian n. 3a.In early use (in quots. 1857 and 1915) = comic singer n. at Compounds 1b.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > [noun] > jester or comedian
jugglerc1175
foolc1300
jangler1303
fool sagec1330
ribald1340
ape-ward1362
japer1377
sage fool1377
harlotc1390
disporter?a1475
jocular?a1475
joculatora1500
jester?1518
idiot1526
scoffer1530
sporter1531
dizzardc1540
vice1552
antic1564
bauble-bearer1568
scoggin1579
buffoon1584
pleasant1595
zany1596
baladine1599
clown1600
fiddle1600
mimic1601
ape-carrier1615
mime1616
mime-man1631
merry man1648
tomfool1650
pickle-herring1656
badine1670
puddingc1675
merry-andrew1677
mimical1688
Tom Tram1688
Monaghan1689
pickled herring1711
ethologist1727
court-foola1797
Tom1817
mimer1819
fun-maker1835
funny man1839
mimester1846
comic1857
comedian1860
jokesman1882
comique1886
Joey1896
tummler1938
alternative comedian1981
Andrew-
1857 Era 13 Sept. 11/3 The..performers engaged at this establishment..comprise..: Mr. J. Wrigley, comic..; Miss A. Boleno, dancer; and Mr. Thornhill, who performs on the trapeze.
1915 Vanity Fair Aug. 58/2 You ain't going to be head-lined as a comic.
1951 Billboard 10 Nov. 54/2 He's a hard-working comic, does an excellent imitation of a taxi-cab, but spoils it all with some tired gags.
1989 J. Carter Stand-up Comedy viii. 162 A lot of comics have gotten stuck on the comedy club circuit because they..developed material that worked exclusively on the club level.
2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 22 June li8 The Brick House Brewery Comedy Night, featuring aspiring and veteran comics.
2. With the. That which is comic; the comic style or genre.
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the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > one who or that which is comical
comedy1535
toy1542
jest1602
joke1670
comic1674
high comedy1707
humorous1753
comicality1796
funny1852
funniosity1871
hot sketch1917
pisser1918
riot1919
panic1921
cocasserie1934
yell1938
mess1952
crack-up1961
1674 T. Rymer tr. R. Rapin Refl. Aristotle's Treat. Poesie 71 Aristotle distinguishes Poesie into three divers kinds of perfect Poems, the Epick, the Tragick, and the Comick [Fr. l'Epopée, la Tragedie, & la Comedie].
1684 T. Creech tr. Horace Epist. ii. i, in tr. Horace Odes, Satyrs, & Epist. (new ed.) 534 The Comic [L. comoedia] then was thought the easier way, Because 'tis common Humor makes the Play.
1742 R. West Let. 12 Apr. in T. Gray Corr. (1971) I. 195 Old words revived..add a certain drollery to the comic, and a romantic gravity to the serious.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. Pref. p. vi No two Species of Writing can differ more widely than the Comic and the Burlesque. View more context for this quotation
1840 T. De Quincey Theory Greek Trag. in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 145/1 The ultimate resource, the well-head of the comic, must for ever be sought in the same field.
1842 E. Bulwer-Lytton Zanoni i. ii Others insist upon it that her forte is the comic.
1925 J. B. Moore Comic & Realistic in Eng. Drama ii. 83 One feels..a desire to exhibit the comic in life for mere enjoyment.
1957 W. Fowlie Guide Contemp. French Lit. iii. 96 Victor Hugo in the nineteenth century attempted to create le drame by fusing the comic and the tragic.
2009 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 2 July 35/4 Despite all its suspensefulness, The Talented Mr. Ripley when viewed from a slightly different angle approaches the comic.
3. Short for comic valentine n. at Compounds 1b. Now historical.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter > card > [noun]
card1596
message card1746
birthday card1797
view card1822
acceptance1837
Easter card1842
wedding-cards1847
comic1860
postcard1869
letter card1870
postal card1870
pc1876
postal1877
note-card1884
photo card1890
greeting-card1898
picture postcard1899
seaside postcard1955
sympathy card1967
1860 Burlington (Iowa) Daily Hawk-eye 7 Feb. (advt.) A large assortment of those Movable Comics, the funniest of all Funny Valentines.
1895 Westminster Budget 22 Feb. 15 (caption) The old valentine, with its maze of lace around a satin heart pierced with a red dart, is gone for ever; so are the large ‘comics’, hideously drawn and vilely coloured, with their verses of printed doggerel [attributed to Daily Telegraph].
1911 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 236/1 Remember the ‘comics’? They were horrible colored lithographs of teachers, old maids, dudes, and the like, with equally horrible verses under them.
1936 Centralia (Washington) Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 5/4 Though tastes may change from year to year and style may widely vary, those same old comics reappear in early February.
2004 B. Shank Token of my Affection i. 42 The earliest comics focused on the differences of fortune, beauty, age, and grace that commonly mark inappropriate love.
4.
a. A periodical containing amusing and satirical articles and illustrations. Now chiefly historical.In quot. 1860 with reference to Thomas Hood's The Comic Annual.College comics (see quot. 1938) have been published by US universities since the 1870's. The most prominent example is The Harvard Lampoon, founded in 1876.
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1860 F. F. Broderip Memorials Thomas Hood I. i. 26 In one of the Comics, he wrote a sort of burlesque account of first going to sea.]
1867 Bookseller 31 Aug. 619/2 Later still,—indeed, in the present year, we have Judy, a three-halfpenny comic (lately raised to twopence); not very brilliant either in her way of literature or illustration; and The Tomahawk.
1872 Once a Week 15 June 592/1 The difficulty..of finding a good title for a humorous periodical is well exemplified in the names of many of the ‘comics’ now extinct—such as the Age, Banter, the Bat.
1889 Catholic Househ. 1 June 7/3 The joke from one of the comics, to which you object, was quite harmless.
1938 Life 3 Jan. 64/3 The Pelican has been rated as the best college comic by the magazines Judge and Esquire.
2013 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 24 June 25 The Glasgow Looking Glass..is regarded as a predecessor of Punch and other satirical comics of the Victorian age.
b. A publication, usually in magazine format, containing a story or collection of stories in the form of comic strips; originally one with chiefly humorous or action-based content intended for children, later also one dealing with a broad range of subjects and intended for adults.See also comic book n., comic strip n., graphic novel at graphic adj. and n. Additions 7.
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society > communication > journalism > journal > periodical > [noun] > comic
comic1892
comic book1904
love comic1948
horror comic1954
manhwa1988
1892 Pick-me-up 8 Oct. 30/2 Ask the publishers of the horrible halfpenny comics..who pay royalties to American publishers in order to get their pictures and matter on the cheap.
1905 F. J. Adkins Tekel ii. iii. 162 Even penny dreadfuls are probably better than the halfpenny ‘comics’ which boys buy so freely.
1944 Life 14 Aug. 26/2 Most soldiers don't read books; they read comics.
1950 Life 31 July 31/1 Shakespeare's Macbeth has been done as a comic book... It's a good comic, all right.
1977 C. Macelli Voices across Tundra viii. 91 Listen, kid, you've been reading too many Superman comics.
2000 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) (Nexis) 30 Mar. (Business section) 2 Users can chat, send and receive e-mail, read on-line comics..and read news and weather reports.
2004 N.Y. Times Mag. 11 July 24/1 The fastest-growing section of your local bookstore these days is apt to be the one devoted to comics and so-called graphic novels.
c. Originally and chiefly North American. A comic strip. Also in plural, often with the: the comic strips in a newspaper, magazine, etc.; (North American) the section of a newspaper containing these (cf. funny n.2).
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society > communication > journalism > journal > matter of or for journals > [noun] > comic strips
funny1908
comic1912
1912 N.Y. Times 30 Jan. 1/2 It is asserted that the comics often are offensive, that many of them teach bad language to children, that they are inartistic.
1936 Pop. Mech. Jan. 36/2 This strip is in no sense a comic, but rather the story of a little orphan told in cartoons.
1955 V. Nabokov Lolita I. xxxiii. 187 I bought her four books of comics.
1964 Michigan Q. Rev. 3 182/1 There is plenty of room in the newspapers for entertainment—on the theater and movie pages,..the sports pages, the comics.
1990 D. McIntosh Visits 25 He produced a Star from under his arm, the pages open at the comics.
2011 B. Katchor in D. Parker Royal Unfinalized Moments xv. 231 The comics in daily newspapers are a moribund vestigial form of syndicated comic strip not worth preserving.
d. In plural with singular agreement. The medium or genre of comics. Cf. manga n.2
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1946 Writer's Digest Jan. 13 (heading) Comics is a funny business.
2001 C. Khordoc in R. Varnum & C. T. Gibbons Lang. of Comics 172 Comics is a different ‘game’ altogether, where the text and the image share a symbiotic relationship.
2010 I. Cates in D. M. Ball & M. B. Kuhlman Comics of Chris Ware 99 Since comics is a narrative medium, it inevitably uses the device of graphic juxtaposition mainly for narrative ends.
5. A comic film, animation, or programme for cinema or television, esp. a cinematic short shown before the feature film.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > other types
romantic comedy1748
epic1785
pre-release1871
foreign film1899
frivol1903
dramedy1905
film loop1906
first run1910
detective film1911
colour film1912
news film1912
topical1912
cinemicrograph1913
scenic1913
sport1913
newsreel1914
serial1914
sex comedy1915
war picture1915
telefilm1919
comic1920
true crime1923
art house1925
quickie1926
turkey1927
two-reeler1928
smellie1929
disaster film1930
musical1930
feelie1931
sticky1934
action comedy1936
quota quickie1936
re-release1936
screwball comedy1937
telemovie1937
pickup1939
video film1939
actioner1940
space opera1941
telepic1944
biopic1947
kinescope1949
TV movie1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
deepie1953
misterioso1953
film noir1956
policier1956
psychodrama1956
free film1958
prequel1958
co-production1959
glossy1960
sexploiter1960
sci-fier1961
tie-in1962
chanchada1963
romcom1963
wuxia1963
chick flick1964
showreel1964
mockumentary1965
sword-and-sandal1965
schlockbuster1966
mondo1967
peplum1968
thriller1968
whydunit1968
schlocker1969
buddy-buddy movie1972
buddy-buddy film1974
buddy film1974
science-fictioner1974
screwball1974
buddy movie1975
slasher movie1975
swashbuckler1975
filmi1976
triptych1976
autobiopic1977
Britcom1977
kidflick1977
noir1977
bodice-ripper1979
chopsocky1981
date movie1983
kaiju eiga1984
screener1986
neo-noir1987
indie1990
bromance2001
hack-and-slash2002
mumblecore2005
dark fantasy2007
hack-and-slay2007
gorefest2012
kidult-
1920 Catal. Copyright Entries: Pt. 1, Group 2 (Libr. of Congr. Copyright Office) 17 1011/1 Goldwyn-Bray comic; no. 818... Goldwyn-Bray pictograph; no. 7050.
1929 P. G. Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking ix. 301 Let's beef in or we'll be missing the educational two-reel comic.
1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. v. 269 She saw light from the comic flickering on his eyeballs.
1962 Listener 15 Feb. 288/1 What are your favourite television programmes?.. Mostly the light programmes, the comics.
2004 P. Daniel in J. B. Boles Shapers Southern Hist. 166 The Joyce Theater..featured B-westerns and detective films on Wednesdays and Saturdays, along with serials, comics, and newsreels.
B. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or of the nature of comedy (esp. Greek or Roman classical comedy) as a literary or dramatic genre; that composes or acts in such a comedy or comedies. Frequently contrasted with tragic adj. 2a.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [adjective] > comedy
comical?a1475
comic1567
comedical1600
comedic1639
comedial1662
low comedy1814
Thalian1864
1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. G.ij To Menander the Commicke gowne of Afphranus was fit [L. dicitur Afrani toga conuenisse Menandro].
1576 N. R. in G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. A.iiiv For commicke verse, still Plautus peerelesse was.
1591 R. Johnson Musarum Plangores sig. B3 Surceasing pastime of my comick pen, Ile tune my laughter vnto low'd exclaymes.
1602 Returne fr. Parnassus (Arb.) v. iv. 72 Who kennes the lawes of euery comick stage.
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Cymon & Iphigenia in Fables 542 Love's the Subject of the Comick Muse.
1747 W. Collins Odes 43 The comic Sock that binds thy Feet.
1808 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 107 It will still come within the rules of Massinger's comic metre, which..is purposely superabundant in unaccented syllables.
1853 R. W. Browne Hist. Rom. Classical Lit. iv. 73 In these improvisatory dialogues may be discerned the germ of the Roman Comic Drama.
1899 W. H. D. Rouse Demonstrations Greek Iambic Verse 139 This [sc. elision] is never done in iambic verse, either tragic or comic.
1926 Times 26 Mar. 16/1 Then, when all the stage belonged to Tragedy, the Comic Muse intruded with an interlude.
1971 L. Trilling Sincerity & Authenticity (1972) iv. 87 The whole import of tragedy depends upon the ‘elevation’ of the hero... There can be no comic hero, for comedy shows men as worse than they really are.
2010 M. Puchner Drama of Ideas ii. 65 The comic playwrights seeking to follow Plato had to come to terms with Aristophanes whether they wanted to or not.
2. Using the techniques or conventions associated with comedy to elicit amusement.Sometimes overlapping with sense B. 3.
a. Of a literary composition, entertainment, etc.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [adjective] > comic
comic1595
Thalian1864
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. vii. 43 Stately Triumphs and mirthfull comicke shewes, Such as befits the pleasures of the Court.
1706 Daily Courant 27 Mar. 2/2 The late Reviv'd Comedy, call'd, The Provok'd Wife; with a Comic Dance by Mr. Firbank and Mrs. Rignall.
?1760 Murder No Crime (single sheet) A new comic ballad, to the tune of, a cobler there was, &c.
1840 P. Leigh (title) The comic Latin grammar.
1884 M. E. Braddon Ishmael xiv A comic duet about a matrimonial quarrel.
1958 R. G. Noyes Neglected Muse iii. 81 The comic subplot is a dull but typical Restoration love-intrigue.
2010 J. Lovensheimer South Pacific v. 93 The third scene..features the comic number ‘Honey Bun’.
b. Of a writer, performer, etc.
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1612 B. Jonson Alchemist Prol. sig. A4v Your Whore, Baud, Squire, Impostor, many Persons more..which haue still beene Subiect, to the rage Or spleene of Comick writers.
1693 N. Tate Duke & No Duke (new ed.) Pref. sig. cv Comick Actors used to deliver what they had to say in various and feigned Tones, which was Harlequin's manner.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. Pref. p. x What Caricatura is in Painting, Burlesque is in Writing; and in the same manner the Comic Writer and Painter correlate to each other. View more context for this quotation
1788 R. Hitchcock Hist. View Irish Stage I. xv. 224 That excellent comic actress Mrs. Green, in the part of Flippanta.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xi. 102 Little Swills, the comic vocalist.
1873 Illustrated Rev. 27 Mar. 321/1 The young comic cartoonist had dropped his first contribution into the letter-box of Charles Dickens' Household Words.
1922 R. Lynd Bks. & Authors iii. 32 There is as much imagination..in the laughter of the great comic writers as in the tears of the sentimentalist.
1993 N.Y. Times 26 Sept. ii. 5/1 It was as a witty, accomplished comic actor that Mr. Hawthorne belatedly made his reputation.
c. Of a journal, magazine, etc. Now chiefly historical.
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1756 (title) The comic miscellany.
1834 N.-Y. Mirror 6 Dec. 182/3 Among the oddities of the comic almanac, we found a conundrum that we believe to be quite new.
1883 ‘G. Lloyd’ Ebb & Flow II. xx. 6 The bookstall where the comic papers were.
1898 Cosmopolitan Oct. 706/1 The comic papers make all manner of fun of you, and you are the subject of ‘gags’ upon the stage.
1903 Everybody's Mag. July 28/1 A barber has to talk: perhaps because the comic weeklies have committed him to the custom.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age 228 The comic magazine, which coined money by publishing risqué jokes and pictures of slightly dressed women.
1959 W. L. Lee God bless Our Queer Old Dean vii. 156 To omit from college comic magazines jokes or pictures of such undisguised indecency as would render the publication unmailable under U.S. postal regulations.
2005 R. C. Harvey in J. McLaughlin Comics as Philos. 15 When the World launched its imitation ‘comic weekly’ as a supplement to its Sunday edition, it was lumped together in the popular mind as another of the ‘comics’.
3. Intentionally humorous; funny. Cf. comical adj. 5.
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the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [adjective] > comical > intentionally
comical?1589
comic1630
1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentleman 139 That Comicke impreza: If wise, seeme not to know that which thou knowest.
1710 Brit. Apollo 4–6 Oct. Apollo, I'll tell you a Story, Of somewhat that made me Merry, 'Tis Comic as that of John Dory.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1775 I. 475 Moody interjected, in an Irish tone, and with a comic look, ‘Ah! poor George the Second.’
1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. II. 7 Will was..full of cheerfulness and fun during his wife's visits to the hospital, indulging only in comic murmurs.
1917 Munsey's Mag. Dec. 480/1 ‘Tryin' ter be comic?’ said Cudd.
1931 K. A. Porter Let. 28 Aug. (1990) i. 50 We find at our plates little paper snappers, with toys inside, and a comic hat of paper with feathers and ribbon.
1995 Christian Sci. Monitor 10 May 13 Mary Alice leans forward and scrunches up her face into a delightfully comic mug.
4. Unintentionally humorous; ridiculous, laughable. Cf. comical adj. 4.
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the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [adjective] > comical > unintentionally
comic1668
droll1753
1668 J. Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 33 In all our Tragedies, the Audience cannot forbear laughing when the Actors are to die; 'tis the most Comick part of the whole Play.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 176. ⁋2 Among the principal of comick calamities, may be reckoned the pain which an author..feels at the onset of a furious critick.
1773 J. Cosens Econ. Beauty II. 16 A kind of tragic Frown..that so ill-beseem'd, (Say all the Critics physiognomic) His Face, insuperably comic.
1833 F. B. Head Bubbles from Brunnen iii His attempt in such deep affliction to be musical is comic in the extreme.
1873 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Wooin' o't v Finding something irresistibly comic in the widow's woes.
1916 C. Sherman Only Relatives Invited xvii. 234 The idea of her writing a great poem would have been comic if it wasn't rather pitiful.
1994 T. Boswell Cracking Show ix. iv. 248 Maldonado in leftfield made one of the most comic, awful throws in Series history.
5. Of a personal attribute, quality, ability, etc.: endowed with or showing natural capacity to cause amusement.Cf. comic genius n. (b) at Compounds 1b, comic timing n. at Compounds 1b.
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1668 J. Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 47 To begin, then, with Shakespeare..He is many times flat, insipid; his Comick wit degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into Bombast.
1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 45 Here and there..there are strokes of genius and strong comic wit that ought to live forever.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xliii. 472 That man, Sir..has comic powers that would do honour to Drury Lane Theatre.
1857 Irish Metrop. Mag. 1 466 In the Prova d'un Opera Seria her comic talent had convulsed the whole house.
1958 Princeton Alumni Weekly 16 May (Good Reading Suppl.) We find in his present collection..discussions of Charley [sic] Chaplin's comic gift.
2012 Toronto Star (Nexis) 1 Nov. (Entertainment section) e2 Kaling has a comic knack for cathartically speaking the unspeakable.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. In combination with other adjectives, with the sense ‘comic and ——’, as comic-heroic, comic-serious, comic-tragic, etc. Cf. comico- comb. form.
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1610 J. Donne Pseudo-martyr iii. 108 This Comique Tragicall Doctrine of Purgatory.
1718 Evening Post 11 Dec. 3/1 The Usurper detected, or Right will prevail, a Comic-Tragical Farce of 2 acts.
1790 F. Burney Diary Oct. (1842) V. 166 His comic-serious face and manner.
1847 J. Pardoe Louis XIV II. xxv. 582 (note) Boileau was the author of the comic-heroic poem in six cantos, of The Reading Desk.
1978 M. Klein Theatre for 98% v. 47 They are comic-tragic creatures performing their daily round of activities.
2012 J. Smith John Brunner ii. 64 Writers..began to satirize utopian ideals, often in a comic-serious manner.
b.
comic alphabet n. a humorous (sometimes illustrated) presentation of the alphabet, typically making use of rhyme or wordplay.
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society > communication > writing > system of writing > alphabet > [noun] > the alphabet, allusively > comic representation of
comic alphabet1818
1818 Brit. Rev. 12 540 (title) The Comic Alphabet; or the A that Ann learned.
1961 E. Partridge Comic Alphabets ii. 25 The comic alphabets of the 19th century seem to have begun their career as burlesques of, or satires on, the 16th–20th century children's alphabets designed..for very young learners.
1999 Independent (Nexis) 6 Jan. (Comment section) 2 Last week I referred in a column to the comic alphabet..which starts ‘'Ay for 'Orses, Beef or Mutton..’.
comic annual n. a humorous anthology published once a year.
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1829 London Lit. Gaz. 21 Nov. 754/3 The Comic Annual. By T. Hood, Esq.
1957 Manch. Guardian 31 Aug. 14/3 The police also want to trace the owner of a television comic annual which was found on a table in the living-room.
2009 Nineteenth-cent. Lit. 64 270 Satirical journals, comic annuals, and mock newspapers appropriated the forms of ads in order to satirize other cultural practices.
comic genius n. (a) a person with an exceptional talent or aptitude for comedy; (b) (an instance of) instinctive and extraordinary capacity or aptitude for comedy.
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1712 G. Shelley Sentences & Maxims 3 A Comic Genius may find something in the Wisest Man, whereby to expose him to the Contempt of the Judicious Part of Mankind; as Aristophanes serv'd Socrates.
1737 Grub-St. Jrnl. 17 Feb. 7/2 We should be glad to know, whether this preference was given here to Mr. Fielding's true Comic Genius, because he has written more Farces.
1818 Edinb. Mag. Dec. 544/2 Moliere was as great or a greater comic genius than Shakespeare.
1882 A. W. Ward Dickens v. 130 Dickens' comic genius was never so much at its ease..as in the depiction of such groups as this.
1914 Amer. Mag. Sept. 76/1 He [sc. J. M. Flagg] is one of the greatest illustrators and comic geniuses in the world.
1971 D. Lodge Evelyn Waugh 45 Almost everything he wrote..was touched with comic genius.
2013 New Yorker 15 Apr. 18/3 With a cartoon-fuelled comic genius that's on view from the very first shot, the director..fills the frame with Freudian gags and the soundtrack with ribald riffs.
comic novel n. a novel intended to elicit laughter or amusement, typically having a happy or conciliatory ending.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > other types of novel
political novel1735
comic novel1787
epistolary1804
autobiographical novel1832
Robinsonade1837
roman1867
sea-book1867
roman à clef1882
roman expérimental1884
hill-top novel1895
saga1895
Bildungsroman1910
pulp fiction1931
American Gothic1938
Künstlerroman1941
suspense novel1952
nouveau roman1959
sword and sorcery1961
graphic novel1964
non-fiction novel1965
schlockbuster1966
dark fantasy1968
celebrity novel1969
swashbuckler1975
chick lit1988
splatterpunk1988
Aga saga1992
1731 Monthly Intelligencer Mar. 136/2 The Ungrateful Fair, a Tragi-comic Novel by Capt. Stephens.]
1787 Monthly Rev. Sept. 229 The first volume—shews that the Author has talents for that species of composition, called the comic novel.
1823 T. Ross tr. F. Bouterwek Hist. Spanish & Portuguese Lit. I. 339 Don Quixote is..the undoubted prototype of the comic novel.
1857 Watchman 23 Dec. 304/4 The traditional Cockney of farces and comic novels is the type of but too many among us.
1916 Smart Set Apr. 155/2 It is the story of a Polish Lothario, and it treats his commonplace amours and puerile philosophizings with heavy solemnity. A Frenchman would have made a comic novel of it.
1962 F. O'Connor Wise Blood (ed. 2) 5 All comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.
2014 Times 20 Sept. (Sat. Review section) 16 The jokes aren't sharp enough, fast enough coming or numerous enough to make it a comic novel that overcomes the fatal silliness of the plot.
comic novelist n. a writer of comic novels.
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1824 Knight's Q. Mag. 3 221 A celebrated comic novelist has told us, that ‘it is the nature of..the internal parts of the human machine to give way when pressed.’
1894 P. Russell Guide Brit. & Amer. Novels viii. 96 Charles Dickens stands forth supreme as the greatest of British comic novelists.
1932 G. K. Chesterton Chaucer i. 8 When the comic novelist says that Mr. Pobbles burst his collar, how much more forcible if he brast his collar!
2011 B. Thomas in P. M. Logan Encycl. of Novel I. 251 The English comic novelist P. G. Wodehouse wrote extensively for stage and screen.
comic poet n. (also †poet comic) a writer of comedies.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poet > poet by kind of poem > [noun] > comic poet
comic1549
comediant1568
comedian1580
comic poet1589
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > playwriting > [noun] > playwright > of specific types of play
comicar1523
comedy writer1549
comic1549
comediant1568
comediographer1576
comedian1580
comic poet1589
mimograph1623
mimographer1638
mimic1654
mono-dramatist1803
melodramatist1812
farcer1813
comedist1819
farceur1889
thesis-playwright1902
thick ear1909
music-dramatist1947
compressionist1961
psychodramatist1973
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xi. 20 Besides those Poets Comick there were other who serued also the stage..called Poets Tragicall.
1698 J. Dennis Usefulness of Stage ii. iv. 107 If the Roman Comick Poets did not bring the Nobility of Rome upon the Stage, it was for want of opportunity and not of good will.
1841 T. B. Macaulay Comic Dramatists in Edinb. Rev. Jan. 502 The Puritan had affected formality: the comic poet laughed at decorum.
1995 R. C. Evans Habits of Mind iv.141 Chaucer offered Jonson the example of a great English comic poet.
comic postcard n. a postcard with a humorous illustration, often of a sexual nature.
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1888 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 6 Dec. Coleman's Christmas Cards; New Comic Postcards, an amusing set of 4 cards.
1941 ‘G. Orwell’ in Horizon Sept. 153 A comic postcard is simply an illustration to..a ‘low’ joke.
2000 Jrnl. Soc. Hist. 33 867 The most common comic postcard showed sexuality appearing in unlikely places.
comic relief n. comic episodes of a play, etc., intended to offset the more serious parts; also in extended use.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > plot > parts of plot
envoy1616
undermirth1640
counter-turn1651
under-walk1651
deus ex machina1697
happy ending1748
dénouement1752
anagnorisis1783
comic relief1783
by-play1812
tragic irony1833
by-plot1851
dramatic irony1881
plot point1909
cliff-hanging1945
subtext1960
1783 T. Davies Dramatic Misc. II. xxxiii. 365 The severity of the tragic scenes always wanted some comic relief.
1825 in E. Fitzball 35 Years Dramatic Author's Life (1859) I. 133 And the moment the point necessary for the plot is attained, the audience are always impatient for the comic relief.
1939 N. Marsh Overture to Death xviii. 204 ‘Let me come.’..‘All right. I can do with some comic relief.’
1994 Washington Post 3 July g4/2 The role of the Senator, a composite of several Senate Judiciary Committee members, is meant to provide a measure of comic relief.
comic singer n. a singer of comic songs.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > singer > other types of singer > [noun] > other singers
knackerc1380
jubilist1471
sol-faer1609
serenader1677
comic singer1753
ranter1769
country singer1790
caroler1806
chansonnier1822
troller1824
cantabank1834
triller1873
lion comique1899
chantwell1909
red-hot mama1924
song stylist1931
singer-songwriter1949
playback singer1963
1753 Public Advertiser 10 Dec. 2/1 The Company of Italian Comic Singers.., rehears'd on Saturday last at Covent Garden Theatre.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 217 The comic singer..was the especial favourite; we really thought that a gentleman..who stood near us, would have fainted with excess of joy.
1959 J. Cameron 1914 viii. 144 The sergeant was a one-time comic singer..from the Berlin music halls.
2014 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 May She was a good dancer and comic singer.
comic song n. a humorous song.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > types of song > [noun] > other types of song
roundelaya1475
black sanctus?1533
pastorella1597
orgial1610
balow1613
comic song1718
hunting-song1727
vaudeville1739
apopemptic1753
melologue1820
Orphic1855
wren song1855
air de cour1878
Kunstlied1880
action song1883
come-all-you1887
marching song1894
party song1911
theme song1929
honky-tonker1950
protest song1953
sing-along1959
slow jam1961
talking blues1969
rap1979
1718 Mock Epithalamium upon Fictitious Marriage Pretender 17 Merry Carols, and Trangdilloes. [Note] Doggril, comick Songs, and refers to Tom Brown's Satyr.
1819 Times 30 Aug. 3/5 He has..procured a scanty subsistence by writing comic songs.
1919 D. Ashford Young Visiters (1951) viii. 51 Sounds of laughter and comic songs issued from the abode.
1992 B. W. Grossman Funny Woman vi. 127 Her successful comic songs allowed her to mimic and debunk her subjects.
comic timing n. the choice or judgement of when something should be said or done so as to cause the maximum amount of amusement or laughter.
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1933 Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald 3 Feb. 7/6 Van Scoyk, whose natural sense of comic timing was perfect.
1987 J. Sochen Enduring Values vi. 81 Each episode was a masterpiece of comic timing, clever dialogue, and interesting situations.
2014 Times (Sc. ed.) 3 July (News section) 19 The supporting cast display an equally acute sense of comic timing.
comic valentine n. now historical a humorous valentine card; also figurative.
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1846 Almanack of Month Mar. 150 For comic valentines there is still a demand, but the age of sentiment, like the age of chivalry, is gone.
1878 P. Scott Christianity & Personal Devil (ed. 2) vii. 140 ‘The devil's black, and so are you,’ is the termination of a comic valentine.
1921 C. J. Denton Entertainments for All Year 105 I didn't dare open it there, or on the street, because I just know it's a comic valentine.
1933 Z. Fitzgerald in M. Brucolli Zelda Fitzgerald Collected Writings (1991) 276 There was a small cranium, a large jaw, and two superhuman ears—a comic valentine of a man with a pig's head.
2000 G. Bolton Edmund Barton i. 11 George Reid, with whom he..exchanged comic valentines.
C2. General use of the noun as a modifier (in sense A. 4).
a. With first element in singular form. See also comic book n., comic strip n.
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1913 Racine (Wisconsin) Jrnl.-News 11 Jan. 4/4 A Four Page Colored Comic Section. Drawn by the world's most famous comic artists.
1936 Pop. Mech. Jan. 37/2 A comic character is like a movie star in that he surrenders his position as soon as he loses favor.
1992 Dragon Mag. Feb. 83/2 It also makes our..books more useful to comic collectors, since you have all the information on the heroes and villains in one sourcebook.
2002 Inquirer Mag. 5 May 26/4 The Xeric Award..the only national funding available for contemporary underground comic artists.
b. With first element in plural form.
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1930 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 9 June 5/2 (caption) ‘Wash Tubbs,’ the world's greatest adventurer... Watch for it every day on the comics page.
1950 Billboard 2 Sept. 35/2 The paper has added a special magazine and comics section.
1986 J. Gilbert Cycle of Outrage ix. 148 The comics industry had already passed a code of standards in 1948.
2006 Independent 9 June 41/3 The comics artist Alex Toth is rated..as perhaps the greatest American adventure strip artist of all time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1549