noun
- Usually antics.
- a playful trick or prank; caper.
- a grotesque, fantastic, or ludicrous gesture, act, or posture.
- Archaic.
- an actor in a grotesque or ridiculous presentation.
- a buffoon; clown.
- Obsolete.
- a grotesque theatrical presentation; ridiculous interlude.
- a grotesque or fantastic sculptured figure, as a gargoyle.
adjective
- ludicrous; funny.
- fantastic; odd; grotesque: an antic disposition.
verb (used without object), an·ticked, an·tick·ing.
- Obsolete. to perform antics; caper.
pl n
- absurd or grotesque acts or postures
noun
- archaic an actor in a ludicrous or grotesque part; clown; buffoon
adjective
- archaic fantastic; grotesque
“ludicrous behavior,” 1520s; see antic.
1520s, “grotesque or comical gesture,” from Italian antico “antique,” from Latin antiquus “old” (see antique). Originally (like grotesque) a 16c. Italian word referring to the strange and fantastic representations on ancient murals unearthed around Rome (especially originally the Baths of Titus, rediscovered 16c.); later extended to “any bizarre thing or behavior,” in which sense it first arrived in English. As an adjective in English from 1580s, “grotesque, bizarre.”