mimicadj.n.
/ˈmɪmɪk/, U.S. /ˈmɪmɪk/ A. adj.
1. † a. Characteristic of a mime; histrionic; (hence) hypocritical. Obsolete.The sense in quot. 1591 is not clear; the context refers specifically to theatrical representation.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > theatrical or exaggerated (of person) > of actions or things
histrionicalc1553
scenical1564
mimic1591
histrionic1627
scenic1638
theatric1656
theatrical1709
agonistic1833
stagy1860
actressy1893
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > hypocrisy > [adjective]
whiteda1225
hypocritec1380
papelarda1500
dissimuling?1518
dissembling1526
Pharisaical1527
hypocritish1531
masking1538
hypocritic1540
hypocritely1541
hypocritical1553
mimic1591
transom-eyed1601
tonguey1612
sanctimoniousa1616
Pharisaica1618
crocodilian1632
hypocrital1658
canting1663
double-minded1727
Tartufish1768
dissimulating1794
dissimulative1802
sawneying1808
sham-Abra(ha)m1828
Tartuffian1872
Pecksniffian1874
mawwormish1883
Chadbandian1908
1591 E. Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints 207 With kindly counter vnder Mimick shade.
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love i. v. sig. C4v We acte our Mimick tricks. View more context for this quotation
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge i. v. sig. C2v Would'st haue me..wring my face with mimick action?
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxiii. 27 No simpring smiles, no mimic face, Affected gesture, or forc'd grace.
b. Relating to, or of the nature of, mimicry or imitation; that mimics, or conveys through mimicry.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective] > apish, mocking, or mimicking
apish1579
mimical1610
zany1616
monkeyish1621
mimic1727
cod1895
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 113 Where are all those..mimicke gestures and apish fooleries that their Masse-bookes enjoyne?
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 10 They circle the grave with mimmick gestures and ejaculations.
1727 J. Swift On Dreams ii, in Misc. Last Vol. 298 The busy Head with mimick Art runs o'er The scenes and Actions of the Day before.
1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. vii. 124 Statues furnished the lifeless spot with mimic representations of the excluded sons of men.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian III. v. 167 Vivaldi concluded, that his dream had mocked him with a mimic voice.
1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 282/2 Dactylology must not be confounded with the natural language of the deaf and dumb, which is purely a language of mimic signs.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 19 As I taught him the written signs of our language, Massieu taught me the mimic signs of his.
1867 O. Logan in Galaxy Aug. 440 The ballet is and always has been as freely recognized by the most cultured peoples..as any other feature of the mimic world.
1945 O. Fenichel in Psychoanalytic Rev. 32 197 ‘Acting out’, as distinguished from the other phenomena, is an acting, not a mere feeling, not a mere thinking, not a mere mimic expression, not a mere single movement.
1973 H. L. Nieburg Culture Storm ii. 23 Watching his crested grebes, Sir Julian Huxley was struck by the theatrical effect, the stylized ‘mimic exaggeration’ of their movements.
1977 D. Morris Manwatching 28 The essential quality of a Mimic Gesture is that it attempts to copy the thing it is trying to portray.
2. † a. Being or resembling a mime or jester. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performance of jester or comedian > [adjective] > jester or comedian
mimic1598
mimical1603
merry-andrew1678
mimy1683
fool-like1829
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. x. sig. H7v The long fooles coat, the huge slop, the lugg'd boot From mimick Piso, all doe claime their roote.
1620 F. Quarles Feast for Wormes ix. sig. H2 'Tis not your Mimmick mouthes,..Nor prodigall vp-banding of thine eyes, Whose gashfull balls doe seeme to pelt the skyes.
b. Given to or having aptitude for mimicry or imitation; imitative, reproducing, imitating. Now rare.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective] > apish, mocking, or mimicking > addicted to or good at mimicking
mimical1603
mimic1647
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 26 They would disdain to be led about the Apes, by such mymick Marmosets.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 110 Oft in her absence mimic Fansie wakes To imitate her. View more context for this quotation
1708 N. Rowe Royal Convert ii. i Some mimick Fantom wears the lovely Form.
1726 J. Arbuthnot et al. It cannot rain but it Pours 5 Aristotle saith, That Man is the most Mimick of all Animals.
1730 J. Swift Rev. Market-hill in Wks. (1735) II. 462 Sly Hunters..To catch a Monkey by a Wile; The mimick Animal amuse; They place before him Gloves and Shoes.
1782 W. Cowper tr. V. Bourne in Poems I. 343 ‘Sweet Poll!’ his doating mistress cries, ‘Sweet Poll!’ the mimic bird replies.
1821 W. C. Bryant Ages iii Let the mimic canvass shew His calm benevolent features.
1905 Daily News 15 July 8 An animal ‘turn’ new to England will be seen at the Palace Theatre... Kern and his Mimic Dog have been drawing crowded houses..in Paris.
3. That is a copy or imitation of, or has an imitative resemblance to the person, thing, quality, etc., properly denoted by the following noun; that represents or substitutes for; mock, pretended.The word in this sense does not now usually imply any deceptive intention or effect; it is typically applied to artistic or playful imitation, often implying that the copy is ludicrously or ridiculously diminutive or insignificant as compared with the reality imitated.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > simulation > [adjective] > artificial or made in imitation of what is real
artificialc1425
unnatural1610
mimical1624
mimic1625
faux1684
mimetic1756
sham1762
imitative1839
imitation1840
mocked-up1919
synthetic1930
1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis iii. xix. 213 This Mimicke Goddesse, who vsurped diuine honours.
1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 19 To frame of their own heads as it were with wax a kinde of Mimick Bishop limm'd out to the life of a dead Priesthood.
1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xvi. 54 A bowl..Around whose verge a mimic Ivy twines.
1749 T. Smollett Regicide iv. iii. 51 Not all this Pride Of mimic Virtue..Shall shelter thee, Deceiver!
1750 B. Franklin Let. 27 July in Suppl. Exper. & Observ. Electr. (1753) 91 I send you some [needles] that have had their heads and points melted off, by our mimic lightning.
1757 R. Griffith & E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances II. cccxii. 319 Instances in Brutes of what we partially stile little, mimic Reason.
1812 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 212 The mimic monarch [of Hayti] has been encountered with superior force by his rival.
1818 W. Scott On Ettrick Forest's Mountains Dun in Sel. Coll. Orig. Sc. Airs V. 227/1 Along the silver streams of Tweed 'Tis blythe the mimic fly to lead.
1849 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. (new ed.) VIII. liv. 524 The mimic warfare of the opera stage.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 399 If any one dies in these mimic contests, the homicide is involuntary.
1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House Pref. in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, & Playlets of War p. xxv The mimic deaths of the cinema screen.
1945 ‘G. Orwell’ in Tribune 14 Dec. 10/3 At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare.
1994 Aquinas Rev. 1 60 Mighty legions waging mimic war.
4. Medicine. = mimetic adj. 7.
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1885 J. Ross Handbk. Dis. Nerv. Syst. iii. 297 Spasm in the area of distribution of the facial muscles (histrionic spasm, mimic convulsion, convulsive tic).
1888 W. R. Gowers Man. Dis. Nerv. Syst. II. 228 Spasm in the muscles supplied by the facial nerve is sometimes termed ‘mimic spasm’, from the semblance of emotional expression which results.
1941 A. Brodal Neurol. Anat. vii. 228 The facial nerve..is here split into several branches which spread out in a fanlike manner to reach all the superficial, mimic muscles of the head.
1975 European Neurol. 13 519 The stimulation of the right facial nerve elicited responses in the referred left mimic muscles.
2001 Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Jrnl. 38 291 It was possible to visualize different parts of the paranasal and perioral mimic muscles and their interlacement in the upper lip.
B. n.
I. A person who or thing which mimes or imitates.† 2.
1.
a. †A mime, a burlesque actor (obsolete); a person practising or skilled in mimicry, esp. one who imitates the voice, mannerisms, or movements of others in order to entertain, amuse, or ridicule. Also in extended use (see quot. 1931).
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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-
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [noun] > one who or that which imitates
followera1398
imitator1523
counterfeiter1526
counterfeitress1577
ape1594
imitatrix1606
emulator1652
figurer1665
mime1677
copier1679
copist1682
mimicker1693
copyist1756
mimic1791
polygraph1794
polygraphic1797
polygrapher1810
echoer1823
imitatressa1834
me-too1886
copycat1896
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > variety, etc. > performers in variety, etc. > [noun] > impersonator
mime1760
mimic1791
female personator1852
male impersonator1876
impressionist1964
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love iii. iv. sig. F2v Waited on, By Mimiques, Iesters. View more context for this quotation
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. E4 Draw what troope you can from the stage after you: the Mimicks are beholden to you, for allowing them elbow roome.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream (1623) iii. ii. 19 Anon his Thisbie must be answered, And forth my Mimmick [1600 Minnick] comes.
c1660 A. Wood Life 8 Oct. (1891) I. 336 He was a great mimick, and acted well in several playes.
1697 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ I. i. iv. 19 [They] preferred a Mimick, or a Stage-player, before the most Valiant..Captain.
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber v. 98 The Mimick..is a great Assistant to the Actor.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1772 I. 357 Boswell: A mimick can not only give you the gestures and voice of a person whom he represents; but even what a person would say on any particular subject.
1830 Ann. Reg., Chron. 249 Deaths..Mr. Ralph Sherwin, mimic and comedian.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 196 The mimics, revellers, and courtesans who crowded the palace.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 175 A tak off, a descriptive burlesque... A mimic, or satirical person.
1931 N. W. Cayley What Bird is That? 44 It is also said to be a wonderful mimic.
1968 J. D. Carr Papa Là-bas iii. xv. 190 For one thing about him, he was an uncanny mimic.
1996 Spectator 31 Aug. 28/1 It's worth remembering, however, that the prophet was also a fine mimic..and liked to salt his prognostications..with antic displays of parody and burlesque.
b. A person or thing that provides or constitutes a (typically) inadequate or weak representation or resemblance. Usually with of. Now rare.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [noun] > one who or that which imitates > badly or poorly
zany1606
mimic1624
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. i. 7 What are the most iudicious Artisans but the Mimiques of Nature?
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 225. ¶7 Cunning is only the Mimick of Discretion.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Member Nat. Assembly in Wks. (1792) III. 346 When full grown, it [sc. Vanity] is the worst of vices, and the occasional mimic of them all. It makes the whole man false.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV clii. 79 Turn to the mole which Hadrian rear'd on high, Imperial mimic of old Egypt's piles.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxiv. 69 Despisers of mankind—apart from the mere fools and mimics, of that creed—are of two sorts.
1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyrical Poems 22 The cottage gable, bare and high, Poor forlorn mimic of the mountain crest.
1926 H. Crane White Buildings 13 The apple on its bough is her desire,—Shining suspension, mimic of the sun.
a. A writer of mimes, a mimographer. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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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
1654 T. Gataker Discours Apol. 38 Men that are of a free and ingenuous disposition, are wont to conceiv (according to that of the Mimik [Pubilius], Beneficium dando accepit, qi digno dedit that they receiv a benefit themselves, in doing others a pleasure.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. A Mimick, a Writer of Lampoons or short jests.
b. = mime n.1 1a. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > other types of play
king play1469
king game1504
historya1509
chronicle history1600
monology1608
horseplaya1627
piscatory1631
stock play1708
petite pièce1712
mimic1724
ballad opera1730
ballad farce1735
benefit-play1740
potboiler1783
monodrama1793
extravaganza1797
theo-drama1801
monodrame1803
proverb1803
stock piece1804
bespeak1807
ticket-night1812
dramaticle1813
monopolylogue1819
pièce d'occasion1830
interlude1831
mimea1834
costume piece1834
mummers' play1849
history play1850
gag-piece1860
music drama1874
well-made1881
playlet1884
two-decker1884
slum1885
kinderspiel1886
thrill1886
knockabout1887
two-hander1888
front-piece1889
thriller1889
shadow-play1890
mime play1894
problem play1894
one-acter1895
sex play1899
chronicle drama1902
thesis-play1902
star vehicle1904
folk-play1905
radio play1908
tab1915
spy play1919
one-act1920
pièce à thèse1923
dance-drama1924
a mess of plottage1926
turkey1927
weepie1928
musical1930
cliffhanger1931
mime drama1931
triangle drama1931
weeper1934
spine-chiller1940
starrer1941
scorcher1942
teleplay1947
straw-hatter1949
pièce noire1951
pièce rose1951
tab show1951
conversation piece1952
psychodrama1956
whydunit1968
mystery play1975
State of the Nation1980
1724 B. G. in J. Henley et al. tr. Pliny the Younger Epist. & Panegyrick I. v. iii. 213 I make Comedies, I both hear and see Mimicks [L. mimos]..and I relish Satyr.
3.
a. Biology. An animal or plant, or a feature of one, which exhibits biological mimicry. Also †mimic beetle.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > similarity between different organisms > mimesis > mimetic plant or animal
mimic1855
mocker1866
Batesian mimic1951
1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 408 This position is always assumed by these Beetles [Histeridæ and Byrrhidæ] when alarmed; and, from this assumption of a death-like attitude, some of the commonest species have received the name of Mimic Beetles.
1893 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. II 574 Mimicry... It is pretty clear that the Mimeta..is rightly named the mimic, since it is a comparatively weak bird, and must benefit by being mistaken for the strong, pugnacious and noisy Philemon.
1907 Nature 31 Oct. 673/2 An insect thus resembled by another is spoken of as its ‘model’, the imitating insect is called a ‘mimic’.
1937 H. D. Peile Guide Coll. Butterflies of India 76 The females of this genus appear to be mimics of common blue and black Danaids.
1964 V. B. Wigglesworth Life of Insects x. 166 The mimic will begin to lose its protective advantage if it becomes too numerous.
1987 Sci. Amer. Sept. 75/2 Some weed mimics have, by virtue of their similarity to crop species, become crops of major importance themselves.
1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus xiv. 221 He paints the celebrated ocelli (eyespots) of the tail feathers as leaf mimics.
b. North American. Either of two North American nymphalid butterflies which resemble various danaid species in appearance, the American viceroy, Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis) archippus, and the widespread diadem butterfly, Hypolimnas misippus.The viceroy resembles the monarch, Danaus plexippus. The diadem resembles these, and more closely resembles the Old World butterfly Danaus chrysippus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Rhopalocera (butterflies) > [noun] > family Nymphalidae > subfamily Danainae > member of
Danaid1881
danaine1897
mimic1899
1881 S. H. Scudder Butterflies x. 206 One of them in particular, the Viceroy,..departs altogether from its nearest allies to mimic the attire of another butterfly, the monarch.]
1899 W. J. Holland Buttefly Bk. 181 Hypolimnas misippus, Linnaeus..(The Mimic).
1951 A. B. Klots Field Guide Butterflies 114 (heading) Viceroy or Mimic. Limenitis archippus... The Viceroy departs radically from the colors of its relatives to ‘mimic’ the Monarch.
1972 L. A. Swan & C. S. Papp Common Insects N. Amer. 238 The viceroy is also called the ‘mimic’ because of its close resemblance to the monarch.
1992 J. Y. Miller Common Names N. Amer. Butterflies 95 Hypolimnas misippus..Mimic.
1992 J. Y. Miller Common Names N. Amer. Butterflies 97 Basilarchia archippus..Mimic.
4. Biochemistry and Pharmacology. = mimetic n. 2.
ΚΠ
1968 Nature 26 Oct. 393/2 Another juvenile hormone mimic (farnesyl methyl ether) can affect the expression of some mutant genes in this organism.
1996 A. Outwater Water 152 Nonoxylphenol polyethoxylates, used as surfactants in dishwashing liquids and toiletries, are estrogen mimics.
1997 New Scientist 7 June 70/2 (advt.) The design and synthesis of novel tyrosine and phosphotyrosine mimics as components of protein kinease inhibitory peptides.
II. The action or process of miming or imitating.
5. † a. ‘Play-acting’, mummery. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > mime > mumming > [noun]
mumming1546
mimica1631
mummering1884
a1631 J. Donne Poems (1633) 200 Compar'd to this, All honor's mimique; All wealth alchimie.
b. Mimicry, imitation. rare.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [noun]
imitation?1504
mimesisa1586
imitating1591
mocking1611
mockage1615
samplinga1638
exemplification1650
facsimilea1661
mimature1663
mimicry1688
copying1712
mimic1832
patterning1845
simulation1870
1832 Fraser's Mag. 5 197 The son of the soldier already will dare To mount the old charger, in mimic of war.
1894 W. Archer Theatr. ‘World’ 1893 145 Her physiognomy is of rare mobility, and her mimik curiously expressive.
1969 W. Gass Mrs. Mean i. 83 And with her hands on her hips, her legs apart, she would throw her head back in the mimic of gargantuan guffaws, soundless and shaking.
1991 Jrnl. Mental Deficiency Res. 35 263 He made himself clear by his facial mimic and by making noises.
Compounds
mimic board n. a board or screen, now usually computer-controlled, which displays diagrammatically the current operational status of a complex system such as a processing plant or an electricity network.
ΚΠ
1972 Electronic Instrument Conf. (Inst. Engineers Austral.) 45 The selection is made on push-button banks close to the associate[d] indicating meter fitted on the mimic board.
1975 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 147/1 Static mimic boards have been a fixture in dispatch and control centers for many years, and they are gradually being replaced by new boards with varying amounts of dynamic capability.
1989 Engineering July (Suppl.) 5/3 The system is microprocessor controlled and a mimic board display is used to display the system status and to report faults for maintenance personnel to correct.
1995 Electr. World (Nexis) Sept. 63 High on the list of stress producers for control-room operators is the traditional dispatch, or ‘mimic’ board used to represent powerplants and T&D grids.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
mimicv.
/ˈmɪmɪk/, U.S. /ˈmɪmɪk/ 1. transitive. To imitate or copy (a person, action, etc.), esp. for the purposes of ridicule or satire, or to entertain; (also, occasionally) = mime v. 2b. Also in extended use with reference to animal behaviour (see quots. 1873 and 1951).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > ridicule or mockery by specific means > ridicule or mock by specific means [verb (transitive)] > ridicule or mock by imitation
mocka1616
buffoon1638
mimic1671
burlesque1676
parody1733
caricature1749
to take off1750
travesty1825
grotesque1875
cartoon1884
spoof1927
to send up1931
1671 T. Shadwell Humorists (front matter) A witty ayery young Lady, of a great fortune,..persecuted with the love of Crazy, Brisk, and Drybob, whom she mimicks and abuses.
a1681 J. Lacy Sr. Hercules Buffoon (1684) iii. ii. 23 'Tis happy that she mimicks her so well, that preserves us from suspicion.
1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemblies 121 To misrepresent his words and mimick his gestures.
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Ceyx & Alcyone in Fables 373 Morpheus..express'd The Shape of Man, and imitated best; The Walk, the Words, the Gesture cou'd supply, The Habit mimick, and the Mien bely.
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives II. 123 Androcles..accused Alcibiades..of mimicking the sacred mysteries.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Charles I ii, in Posthumous Poems (1824) 243 He mocks and mimics all he sees and hears.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xiii. 112 Mimicking..the voice and manner of the usher.
1873 Galaxy Jan. 133 A pair of red-bills can put a hawk to flight, and the piopio mimicked the cry of that bird as a protection against the enemy.
1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed vi. 106 ‘This is disgraceful,’ said Maisie, mimicking Mrs. Jennett's tone.
1951 S. H. Bell December Bride i. x. 67 A prodigal starling, trembling with ecstasy on the stable ridge, mimicked the song learnt last spring from a merle in the apple trees.
1966 G. Greene Comedians ii. iii. 220 The purser mimicked the action of a man drinking and pointed towards me.
1990 B. Burrough & J. Helyar Barbarians at Gate xvi. 441 Hill put his fists together and pumped them up and down, mimicking a bellows.
2.
a. transitive. To imitate or copy minutely, uncritically, or servilely, usually so as to emulate or aspire to parity with, and frequently with ridiculous effect. (In some contexts not easily distinguishable from sense 1.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > imitate [verb (transitive)] > ape, mock, or mimic
apize1598
zany1602
imitate1613
mocka1616
apea1640
monkeya1658
mimic1687
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther i. 3 The Buffoon Ape..mimick'd all Sects, and had his own to chuse.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals v, in tr. Virgil Wks. 24 Alphesibœus, tripping, shall advance; And mimick Satyrs in his antick Dance.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iii. i. 6 It is therefore doing him little Honour, to imagine he endeavours to mimick some little obscure Fellow, because he happens to resemble him in one particular Feature. View more context for this quotation
1761 C. Churchill Rosciad 21 Just in the way that Monkies mimick Man.
1843 T. B. Macaulay Addison in Ess. (1899) 724 Thus much..is certain, both Swift and Voltaire have been successfully mimicked, and that no man has yet been able to mimic Addison.
1844 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VIII. 27 The rest only mimicked the hero [sc. Alexander the Great]..in their demeanour, and in the trappings and state of royalty.
1894 L. Stephen Playground of Europe (new ed.) viii. 168 The absurdity of mimicking a man who was his junior.
1983 S. Kitzinger Woman's Experience of Sex vii. 241 Women especially are driven..to act out a hectic pantomime which mimics themselves when young: heavy eye make-up, slimming diets.
b. transitive. To imitate (an action or attribute) so as to pass it off as one's own.
ΚΠ
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. iii. 58 He observed how contemptible a Thing was human Grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive Insects as I.
1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil ii. x. 359 The Devil is known to mimick the Methods, as well as the Actions of his Maker.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 165 When a sect becomes powerful..men crowd into it,..conform strictly to its ritual, mimic its peculiarities.
1858 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) II. viii. 570 They mimicked the voice of liberty—they aped her very gestures.
1905 W. H. Mallock in 19th Cent. Sept. 497 The devil had mimicked the art of the Creator.
1944 D. Welch In Youth is Pleasure v. 87 Dennis said a lot more, growing increasingly vicious with each new sentence... ‘My dear, don't lose your wool,’ she said, mimicking old-fashioned schoolboy slang.
1975 J. Mitchell Shades of Scarlett Conquering (song) in Compl. Poems & Lyrics (1997) 142 Mimicking tenderness she sees In sentimental movies.
1987 R. Ingalls End of Trag. 64 Friends and relatives often mimicked the gestures or habits of speech they associate with someone dead.
c. transitive. To represent imitatively, to create a visual likeness of, as by drawing, painting, etc. Of things: to have a close visual resemblance to, to have or assume the appearance of.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > represent in art [verb (transitive)]
workOE
shapea1375
express1382
marka1393
resemblea1393
portraya1398
devisea1400
makea1400
represent?a1425
counterfeitc1440
to set on write1486
porturea1500
emporturea1529
story1532
portrait1548
show1565
decipher1567
portraiture1581
to set forth1585
emblazea1592
stell1598
defigure1599
infigure1606
effigiate1608
deportract1611
deportray1611
rendera1616
image1624
configure1630
exiconize1641
effigies1652
to take off1680
mimic1770
paraphrase1961
1770 T. Whately Observ. Mod. Gardening 23 Such whimsical wonders, however, lose their effect, when represented in a picture, or mimicked in ground artificially laid.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion vi. 264 Like..clouds that mimicked Land Before the Sailor's eye. View more context for this quotation
1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 34 Fresh carved cedar, mimicking a glade Of palm and plantain, met from either side.
1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth III. xii. 258 He showed her how closely he could mimic marble on paper.
1990 Annapolitan July 20/1 Mimicking Kent Island's other-worldly shape just to the north, Talbot's bay front is bracketed by the Miles River to the north and the Choptank River to the south.
3. transitive. Of an immaterial or inanimate thing (usually personified, esp. in early use): to emulate or masquerade as another; to resemble closely, esp. in structure or functionality.
ΚΠ
1712 G. Granville Poems 173 Who wou'd with Care some happy Fiction frame, So mimicks Truth, it looks the very same.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 514. ¶2 Vice has learned so to mimick Virtue, that it often creeps in hither under its Disguise.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 77. ⁋3 The prattle of affectation mimicking distresses unfelt.
1856 C. Patmore Espousals vi, in Angel in House II. 86 The leaves, all stirring, mimick'd well A neighboring rush of rivers cold.
1878 R. L. Stevenson Edinburgh (1889) 8 Behold the palace re-awakened and mimicking its past.
1987 W. Greider Secrets of Temple i. ii. 56 Economics mimicked physics, but twentieth-century physicists had moved beyond the clockwork laws of Newton to the relativity of Einstein.
1993 Pop. Sci. June 30/1 By mimicking pond and marsh processes, his greenhouse-based ‘living machine’ cleanses sewage without intensive energy or chemicals.
4.
a. transitive. Pathology. Of a disease or condition: to exhibit symptoms which resemble those of (another disease or condition); to simulate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > characterize a disease [verb (transitive)] > show false resemblance to
mimic1744
1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §90 The scurvy..which indeed must be allowed to create or mimic most other maladies.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 473 Nodular forms are closely mimicked by the..febrile outbursts of nodular leprosy.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 97 233/2 Arteriovenous fistules of traumatic origin can mimic congenital arteriovenous malformations.
1993 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 Jan. 15 (advt.) MVPS has frightening symptoms that mimic heart attack and may affect 8% of the population.
b. transitive. Pharmacology and Biochemistry. Of a drug: to produce a physiological or biochemical effect very similar to (that of another substance or action).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > of medicine: act [verb (transitive)] > mimic effects of different origin
mimic1962
1962 Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 26 6/1 They mimic the inhibitory but not the repressive effect of the normal metabolite.
1974 Nature 31 May 473/1 Colchicine..has been reported to mimic the effects of denervation on mammalian skeletal muscles.
1991 Longevity Jan. 8/3 Minoxidil may mimic the action of EDRF, a compound produced by the blood-vessel lining.
1998 New Scientist 17 Jan. 37/1 Baclofen, a drug which mimics the effects of GABA, was no more effective in reducing tinnitus than a placebo.
5. transitive. Biology. To have a mimetic resemblance to (something else), often in a way that deters predators or serves as camouflage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [verb (transitive)] > mimic
mimic1861
simulate1876
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [verb (transitive)] > have a mimetic resemblance to
mimic1861
1861 H. W. Bates in Trans. Linn. Soc. 23 504 The Leptalides..fly in the same parts of the forest, and generally in company with the species they mimic.
1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 62 The Geometridæ..closely mimic bits of dry stick.
1909 Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 6 186 A later chapter..[recites] the various methods by which transparency is brought about in the wings of those butterflies which are said to ‘mimic’ hymenoptera.
1967 J. Barth Floating Opera (rev. ed.) xiv. 138 Those South American butterflies who, themselves defenseless, mimic outwardly the more numerous species among which they live.
1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus v. xiv. 212 Animals mimic unpalatable creatures to gain protection.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1591v.1671