farce

noun

1. a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.
2. humor of the type displayed in such works.
3. foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.
4. Cookery. forcemeat.

verb (used with object), farced, farc·ing.

5. to season (a speech or composition), especially with witty material.
6. Obsolete. to stuff; cram.

noun

1. a broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable situations
2. the genre of comedy represented by works of this kind
3. a ludicrous situation or action
4. Also: farcemeat another name for forcemeat

verb (tr) obsolete

5. to enliven (a speech, etc) with jokes
6. to stuff (meat, fowl, etc) with forcemeat

n.

late 14c., “force-meat, stuffing;” 1520s, as a type of dramatic work, from Middle French farce “comic interlude in a mystery play” (16c.), literally “stuffing,” from Old French farcir “to stuff,” (13c.), from Latin farcire “to stuff, cram,” of unknown origin, perhaps related to frequens “crowded.”

The pseudo-Latin farsia was applied 13c. in France and England to praise phrases inserted into liturgical formulae (e.g. between kyrie and eleison), then in Old French farce was extended to the impromptu buffoonery among actors that was a feature of religious stage plays.