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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



29 words match “COMEDY”

COMEDY n.
and the termination of the plot is happy; -- opposed to tragedy. With all the vivacity if comedy. Macaulay. Are come to play a pleasant comedy. Shak.
TRAGI-COMEDY n.
s and comic scenes are blended; a composition partaking of the nature both of tragedy and comedy. The noble tragi-comedy of "Measure for Measure." Macaulay.
BUSKIN n.
Greece and Rome. Used as a symbol of tragedy, or the tragic drama, as distinguished from comedy. Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here, No greater Jonson dares in socks appear. Dryden.
CATASTROPHE n.
a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.
COMEDIAN n. 2 definitions
An actor or player in comedy. "The famous comedian, Roscius." Middleton.
COMEDIENNE n.
A women who plays in comedy.
COMEDIETTA n.
A dramatic sketch; a brief comedy.
COMIC a.
Relating to comedy, as distinct from tragedy. I can not for the stage a drama lay, Tragic or comic, but thou writ'st the play. B. Jonson.
COMICAL a.
Relating to comedy. They deny it to be tragical because its catastrphe is a wedding, which hath ever been accounted comical. Gay.
DIVERT v.
rts; men are diverted with works of wit and humor. We are amused by a tale, diverted by a comedy. C. J. Smith.
EL DORADO n.
Any region of fabulous wealth; exceeding richness. The whole comedy is a sort of El Dorado of wit. T. Moore.
FARCE n.
A low style of comedy; a dramatic composition marked by low humor, generally written with little regard to regularity or method, and abounding with ludicrous incidents and expressions. Farce is that in poetry which "grotesque" is in a picture: the persons and action of a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false.…
GALL n.
itter; bitterness; rancor. He hath . . . compassed me with gall and travail. Lam. iii. 5. Comedy diverted without gall. Dryden.
HARLEQUIN n.
ivert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy. Percy Smith. As dumb harlequin is exhibited in our theaters. Johnson. Harlequin bat (Zoöl.), an Indian bat (Scotophilus ornatus), curiously variegated with white spots. -- Harlequin beetle (Zoöl.), a very large South Amer…
INDELICACY n.
so, that which is offensive to refined taste or purity of mind. The indelicacy of English comedy. Blair. Your papers would be chargeable with worse than indelicacy; they would be immoral. Addison.
INTRIGUE n.
it love affair between two persons of different sexes; an amour; a liaison. The hero of a comedy is represented victorious in all his intrigues. Swift.
MORAL n.
moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson. We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters. Macaulay.
PANTALOON n.
Aridiculous character, or an old dotard, in the Italian comedy; also, a buffoon in pantomimes. Addison. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak.
PLAY v. 3 definitions
To act or perform (a play); to represent in music action; as, to play a comedy; also, to act in the character of; to represent by acting; to simulate; to behave like; as, to play King Lear; to play the woman. Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt. Sir W. Scott.
RETROSPECT n.
contemplation of the past. Cowper. We may introduce a song without retrospect to the old comedy. Landor.
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