Definition of "antic"
antic1
adjective
comparative more antic, superlative most antic
Quotations
My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes,Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,
1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, (please specify the page)
In recounting the story of Lenny and Eunice in his antic, supercaffeinated prose, Mr. Shteyngart gives us his most powerful and heartfelt novel yet — a novel that performs the delightful feat of mashing up an apocalyptic satire with a genuine supersad true love story.
2010 July 26, Michiko Kakutani, “Love Found Amid Ruins of Empire”, in The New York Times
(architecture, art) Grotesque, incongruous.
Quotations
The amusement park environment of seaside resorts such as Venice and the antic eclecticism of Greene & Greene's pre-Craftsman work all preceded the establishment of the movie colony in Hollywood.
2004, John Chase, Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving: Reflections on Building Production in the Vernacular city, page 58
Quotations
Fetch me my Rapier Boy, what dares the ſlaue / Come hither, couer'd with an antique face, / To fleere and ſcorne at our Solemnitie?
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v], page 58
[…] we all three enter'd the Gate of the Palace between two Rows of Guards, armed and dreſſed after a very antick manner, and ſomething in their Countenances that made my Fleſh creep with a Horror I cannot expreſs.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Leaves Lagado, Arrives at Maldonada. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 97
noun
plural antics
(often in the plural) A ludicrous gesture or act; ridiculous behaviour; caper.
Quotations
Two sets of manners, could the youth put on; / And, fraught with antics as the Indian bird / That writhes and chatters in her wiry cage, / Was graceful, when it pleased him, smooth and still / As the mute Swan that floats adown the stream, […]
c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Sixth. The Church-yard among the Mountains.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, page 263
Toad ceased his frivolous antics at once. He became grave and depressed, and a dull pain in the lower part of his spine, communicating itself to his legs, made him want to sit down and try desperately not to think of all the possibilities.
1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons
Of their elders some, by imitating the antics of youth, strive to persuade themselves that their day is not yet over; they shout with the lustiest, but the war cry sounds hollow in their mouth; […]
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter II, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […]
verb
third-person singular simple present antics, present participle anticking, simple past and past participle anticked
(intransitive) To perform antics, to caper.
Quotations
Jerry no more than cocked a contemptuous quizzical eye at the mainsail anticking above him. He knew already the empty windiness of its threats, but he was careful of the mainsheet blocks, and walked around the traveller instead of over it.
1917 April, Jack London, chapter IV, in Jerry of the Islands, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 54
(obsolete) To make a fool of, to cause to look ridiculous.
Quotations
Gentle lords, let's part; / You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarb / Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue / Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost / Antick'd us all.
c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene vii]