▪ I. mock, n.1 Now chiefly rare or arch.
(mɒk)
Forms: 5–6 mokk(e, 5–7 mocke, 6 mok, 7 moke, 6– mock.
[f. mock v.]
1. a. A derisive or contemptuous action or speech; an act of mocking or derision.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 360 Þe gude man bade styll & had a mokk [L. maritus delusus remansit]. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 195 b/2 This olde philosopher..casted at hym many proude mockes & shamefull wordes. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlix. 45 Wyvis thuss makis mokkis Spynnand on rokkis. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxv. (Percy Soc.) 182 He..called me boye, and gave me many a mocke. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 14 This saith Tindale yroniously in a mok as though it were false. a 1541 Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 36 Such mockes of dreames do turne to deadly payne. 1587 Golding De Mornay xv. (1617) 251 Ye may well thinke they gaue a dry mocke to all the arguments of Aristotle. 1615 Swetnam Arraignm. Wom. (1880) p. xxi, Thou canst not goe in the street with her without mocks, nor amongst thy neighbours without frumps. 1679 Earl Mulgrave Ess. on Satire 194 For after all his vulgar marriage mocks, With beauty dazzled, Numps was in the stocks. 1888 Child Ballads III. 178/1 Robin Hood..changes clothes with the palmer (who at first thinks the proposal a mock). |
b. † to make mock(s or
a mock at: to deride (
obs.).
to make a mock of: to bring into
contempt. to put the (or a) mock(s) on (someone): see
quot. 1943 (
Austral. slang).| a 1460 Gregory's Chron. in Hist. Coll. Citizen Lond. (Camden) 178 For men provesyde be-fore þat the vyntage of Gascon and Gyan shulde come ovyr Scheters Hylle, and men made but a mocke ther of. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 279 Makand mokis at that mad fader. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xiii. 9 Ye haue made a mocke at the councell of the poore. ― Heb. vi. 6 Yf they fall awaye (and concernynge them selues crucifye the sonne of God afreszhe, and make a mocke off him) that they shulde [etc.]. 1611 Bible Prov. xiv. 9 Fools make a mock at sin. 1693 Mem. Cnt. Teckely ii. 125 Tekeley made a mock at this forced offer. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Tues. 19 Colin makes mock at all her piteous Smart. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) II. xviii. 265 My own shadow makes a mock of my fooleries! 1891 Hall Caine Scapegoat v, An evil spirit would make a mock at him. 1894 Crockett Raiders 21, I could never forgive her for making a mock of me. 1911 E. Dyson Benno 33 It's up t'me t'put a mock on that tripester. 1938 X. Herbert Capricornia xxxii. 482 ‘He put the mocks on me,’ roared Norman... ‘What's he saying, dear?’ ‘He..reckons I told the police on him.’ 1943 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 51 Mocks on, put the, to upset someone's plans, to spoil a person's calculations. Also, ‘put the mock on’. 1965 W. Grout My Country's 'Keeper xx. 206, I hope I am not ‘putting the mock’ on Norm because my feelings are the same as the rest of the Australian Test players: When O'Neill is a doubtful Test starter the job always looks grimmer. |
c. Derision, mockery.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 726 All their trauaile, paine, and expences, were to their shame loste and employed, and nothyng gayned, but a continuall mocke, and dayly derision of the French King. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. vii. M.'s Wks. 1851 VIII. 171 Are they called so in vain, and in mock only? 1881 Palgrave Visions Eng. 247 [They] watched the Ganges-brimming jars In fiendish mock borne past their dungeon bars. |
† d. An imposture.
Obs.| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxvi. 213 He sent me with y⊇ letter, the goodlyest chessemen than euer I sawe: He found out that mocke, bycause he knewe well that the capitayne loued well the game of the chesse. |
† e. In
phr. mocks and mows: see
mow n. 2. A thing to be derided or jeered at; something deserving of scorn.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. i. 230 Other suche thinges of the whiche shulde not be reputed nor taken in Iugement but for a trifle or a mocke. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 127 They hald it still vp for a mocke, How Maister Patrik fedd his flock. 1627 May Lucan x. 31 If ere the world her freedome had attaind, He for a mocke had been reserv'd. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. iv. §20 They were a fright to few, a mock to many, and an hurt to none. 1814 Byron Ode to Napoleon xvi, Foredoom'd by God—by man accurst, And that last act, though not thy worst, The very Fiend's arch mock. 1890 A. E. Barr Friend Olivia i. 5 A Puritan gentleman is her mock, and nothing else. |
3. The action of ‘mocking’ or imitating;
concr. something that mocks or deceptively resembles; an imitation, a counterfeit.
| 1646 Crashaw Musicks Duell 108 Now reach a straine my Lute Above her mocke, or bee for ever mute. 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 277 It is but a mock, an image of a House of Lords. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. iv. 23 While pious Valverde mock of priesthood stands, Guilt in his heart, the gospel in his hands. 1844 Mrs. Browning Lost Bower xxxii, Or, in mock of art's deceiving, was the sudden mildness worn? |
4. attrib. use:
† mock-sign, a derisive gesture;
mock-word, a term of derision. (Perh. rather
f. the stem of
mock v.)
| 1659 Howell Vocab. i, To make mock-signs with the fingers. Far la castagna ò la fica cioè [etc.]. 1845 R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. iv. (ed. 2) 61 Religion is a mock-word on their lips. |
▪ II. mock, n.2 dial. (
mɒk)
[Possibly repr. an OE. *moc, related to ON. mi{uacu}k-r soft (see meek a.), myki muck.] (See
quots. 1796, 1882.)
| 1777 Horæ Subsecivae 275 (E.D.D.). 1796 W. Marshall W. Eng. I. 232 The washings of the ‘mock’, or pomage. Ibid. 328 Mock, pomage, or ground fruit. 1882 Friend Devon. Plant names (E.D.S.) 38 Mock, apples made into cheese or pommage, ready for the cider-press. |
▪ III. mock, n.3 dial. (
mɒk)
1. A root or stump; a log.
| 1844 Barnes Poems Rural Life 328 Mock, a root or stump of a cut-off bush, or large stick. 1855 Morton's Cycl. Agric. II. 724/2 Mock (Dorset), the root of a tree. 1874 M. E. Whitcombe Bygone Days Devon & Cornw. 194 The Christmas Log..is usually called ‘the mock’. |
2. A tuft of coarse grass or rush left by cattle in pasture land.
| 1844 Barnes Poems Rural Life 328 Mock,..a tuft of sedge. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 482 The cattle usually leave tufts or patches of the ranker herbage: these are always called mocks. |
▪ IV. mock, n.4 Anglo-Irish.
(
mɒk)
[Of obscure origin.] A piece of land held in ‘conacre’. Also
Comb. mockground = conacre.
| 1824 Evid. bef. Commons Comm. 20 May 131 What do you mean by mockground?.. Do you not refer to muckground? It may be; they call it cornacre. 1862 H. Coulter West of Irel. 71 Conacre or Mockground as they term it in Clare... I have heard of an instance of a Mock being charged for at the rate of {pstlg}10 an acre. |
▪ V. mock, a. (Not in predicative use.)
(
mɒk)
[Partly from the attributive use of mock n.1; partly from the use of the stem of mock v. in combination with an object. The hyphen is still often used in the collocations of the adj. with ns.; when these are used attributively the hyphen is almost always inserted.] 1. Prefixed to a
n. to form a designation for a person or thing that ‘mocks’, parodies, imitates, or deceptively resembles that which the
n. properly denotes;
= sham, counterfeit, imitation, pretended.
a. of persons.
| 1548 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 26, I feare me some be rather mocke gospellers then faythful ploughmen. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1091 They this mock-King did espy. 1652 Evelyn Diary 6 Mar., Then marched the mourners, General Cromwell.., his mock-parliament-men, officers, and 40 poore men in gounes. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contempl. (1841) 256 Many mock-ministers having banished out of divine service the use of the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten commandments. 1668 Dryden (title) An Evening's Love, or the Mock-Astrologer. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 10 The Tomb of the Mock-Saint which is in the middle of the Chappel. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Wks. 1721 III. 217 The Envoy Thanks to the Mock-Angel paid. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 30 This little arbitrary mock-monarch. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 84 A barrister..appeared for the mock plaintiff, and made some feeble objections to the defendant's plea. 1901 A. Lang Magic & Relig. 134 The mock-king who was annually killed at the Babylonian festival of the Sacæa. |
b. of things, actions, events, etc.
| c 1561 [see mock holiday]. 1581 Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. xv. (1591) 179 Those mocke-expeditions of Caius the Emperour. 1623 Cockeram, To Rdr., The mocke-words which are ridiculously vsed in our language. 1643 Conycatching Bride, title-p., This..Mock-Marriage was kept privately in London. 1646 J. Benbrigge God's Fury 54 Alas, your mock-prayers, mock-fasts, your mock-duties, make his fury come into face. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 213 His wooden mock knife. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §43 Those Idols..were so far from defending themselves, that their mock-Mouths could not afford one word, to bemoan their finall Destruction. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 167 The Popish mock-fasts which allow the greatest dainties in the strictest abstinence. 1682 Dryden & Lee Dk. of Guise i. i, I'll swear him Guilty. I swallow Oaths as easie as Snap-dragon, Mock-Fire that never burns. 1689 Acc. Reasons Chas. II War States-Gen. 6 After a Mock-Imprisonment of nine or ten days he was let out again. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Mock-song, that Ridicules another Song, in the same Terms and to the same Tune. A Mock-Romance, that ridicules other Romances, as Don Quixot. A Mock-Play, that exposes other playes, as the Rehearsal. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Wks. 1721 I. 88 Mock-Thunder-bolt in his Right Hand he graspt. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxviii. (1820) 188 The lofty terms..resembled the pomp of a mock tragedy. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxviii. 49 The mock assembly was dismissed. 1839 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 21 The turkey-buzzards..soar over the river like so many mock eagles. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. 361 A mock trial in which their enemies were judges. 1855 Tennyson Maud iii. vi. 33 It is time, O passionate heart and morbid eye, That old hysterical mock-disease should die. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. ii, He..lifted his eyebrows and his hands in mock protest. |
c. of qualities, sentiments, etc.
| 1648 Sanderson Serm. II. 248 There are..many mock-graces..that..are not the things they seem to be. 1684 Winstanley Eng. Worthies 346 One that was a Thrasonical Puff, and Emblem of mock-valour. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 309 ¶1 That superior Greatness and Mock-Majesty, which is ascribed to the Prince of the fallen Angels. 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure II. 12 The mask of mock-modesty was compleatly taken off. 1784 W. Coxe Trav. Poland, etc. I. 150 This spirit of mock-reverence. 1806 T. Campbell in Smiles Mem. J. Murray (1891) I. xiv. 326, I am not assuming any mock modesty. 1835 Lytton Rienzi x. ii, The young man..had much of the..mock patriotism of the Romans. 1877 Black Green Past., xxiv, He gave that advice with mock humility. 1880 Swinburne Heptalogia 90 Thank my stars I'm as free from mock-modesty, friend, As from vulgar fatuity. 1962 I. S. Black High Bright Sun i. 8 She had..none of the island girls' self-consciousness, none of their mock modesty. |
d. Designating an examination set by a school to give pupils practice for a specified public examination. Also
ellipt. as
n.| 1960 Guardian 22 June 6/4 A prefect enters... ‘It was a long time ago that we did Mock.’ 1960 Where? iii. 15 ‘Mock’ GCE, an internal examination..run by some schools as a rehearsal for the normal GCE examinations. 1964 C. Dale Other People iii. 71 June..had done Tennyson for mock GCE. 1967 Guardian 2 May 6/5 Some interviewers..asked if students had done ‘mock’ ‘A’ levels at school. 1969 C. Fremlin Possession xvii. 138 How could she ever get through her Mocks next term? |
2. a. Special collocations (usually hyphened):
mock auction, a ‘Dutch auction’ (see
auction n. 2); also, a fraudulent auction of worthless articles, in which a brisk pretence of bidding is kept up by confederates in order to elicit genuine bids;
mock auctioneer, the auctioneer at a mock auction;
mock-colour, a fugitive as opposed to a permanent colour or dye (
cf. false colour:
false a. 16 b);
mock croc: see
croc2 1 b;
mock-gold, a yellow alloy composed of copper, zinc, platinum and other materials in various proportions (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
mock-knee, a callosity on the inner side of a horse's leg below the knee (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1891);
mock-lead = blende, hence
mock-leady a., containing blende;
† mock-man, (
a) one unworthy to be called a man; also
attrib.; (
b) a chimpanzee;
mock-moon = paraselene;
mock-ore = mock-lead (see also
quot. 1681);
mock-plum = bladder plum (
bladder n. 10);
mock-rainbow, a secondary rainbow (see
rainbow 1);
mock-sun = parhelion; also
fig.;
† mock-velvet,
perh. = mockado. Also in names of culinary preparations, as
mock-brawn, the flesh of a pig's head and ox feet cut in pieces, and dressed to resemble brawn;
mock-duck,
-goose, a piece of pork from which the ‘crackling’ has been removed, baked with a stuffing of sage and onions (
colloq.);
mock venison, leg of mutton long hung, cooked after the manner of venison. Also
mock turtle.
| c 1766 Cheats of London Exposed 32, I term them *Mock-Auctions, because they are deceits throughout. 1884 Dickens Dict. Lond. 28/1 The ‘Mock Auction’ is a swindle. 1891 M. Williams Later Leaves 82 A mock auction case. |
| 1959 Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 23/4 The requirement that a *mock auctioneer should display his name and address was still valid though it was not enforced by the police. 1959 Listener 9 July 72/1 The mock-auctioneer in back street or fairground. |
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1805) 302 To make *Mock Brawn. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery, Index, Mock brawn. |
| 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. ii. iv. 207 If it loses its body or ground of colour it is a *mock colour. |
| 1877 Cassell's Dict. Cookery 262 *Mock Goose is a name given in some parts to a leg of pork roasted without the skin, and stuffed just under the knuckle with sage-and-onion stuffing. |
| a 1728 Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils (1729) i. I. 182 A black glossy Matter like Talc..common in Cornwall; and call'd there *Mock-Lead. 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby i. 84 Mock lead is the native sulphuret of zinc. |
| 1757 tr. Henckel's Pyritol 6 These fissures..be often *mock-leady. |
| 1624 Fletcher Wife for Month i. i, I would first take to me, for my lust, a Moore, One of your Gally-slaves, that cold and hunger, Decrepid misery, had made a *mock-man, Then be your Queene. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lover v. i, What a Mock-man property, in thy intent, Wouldst thou have made me? 1738 [see chimpanzee]. |
| 1654 Vilvain Epit. Ess. v. l, Three *mock-Moons at once reflex'd hav bin. 1889 Pall Mall G. 27 Oct. 7/1 Occasionally for a few minutes one or other of the mock-moons was very bright. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum iii. §ii. iii. 338 Mundick Ore, and Black Daze, mixed with a Vein of White and Green Spar... These Ores, by some are called *Mock-Ores. 1786 Whitehurst Orig. St. Earth (ed. 2) 230 This mineral has been usually known by the names of black-jack, and mock-ore. 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby i. 84 Mock ore, or sulphuret of zinc. |
| 1890 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Mock-plums. |
| 1725 Pope Wks. Shaks. I. Pref. 2 Each picture like a *mock-rainbow is but the reflexion of a reflexion. 1665–6 *Mock-sun [see parhelion]. 1671 Marten Voy. into Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1694) 50 A Parelion or Mock-sun. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xxxix, Let France adore No longer an illusive mock sun. 1886 Pall Mall G. 2 Apr. 7/2 Four mock suns were seen in the neighbourhood of Greenwich. |
| a 1613 Overbury New Charac., Fellow of House (1615) L 3, His meanes will not suffer him to come too nigh [the fashion]: they afford him *Mock-veluet or Satinisco. |
| 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery 225 *Mock Venison. Hang a plump and finely-grained leg of mutton in a cool place [etc.]. |
b. In popular or book names of plants, as
mock acacia,
Robinia Pseud-Acacia (see
acacia1 2);
mock-apple, Canadian name for
Echinocystis lobata (
Treas. Bot. Suppl. 1874);
mock bishop('s)-weed, American name for the genus
Discopleura;
mock-chervil, (
a) Cow parsley,
Anthriscus sylvestris; (
b) Shepherd's needle,
Scandix Pecten;
mock gillyflower (see
gillyflower 3);
mock liquorice, Goat's rue,
Galega officinalis;
† mock-mustard, [
tr. mod.L.
sinapistrum], ?
Salvadora indica;
mock myrtle, ? bog-myrtle,
Myrica Gale;
mock-olive, an Australian jasmine,
Notelæa longifolia (Maiden
Native Pl. Australia 1889);
mock-orange, (
a) the common syringa,
Philadelphus coronarius; (
b) the Carolina cherry-laurel,
Prunus caroliniana; (
c) the Australian native laurel,
Pittosporum undulatum (ibid.);
mock pennyroyal, the genus
Hedeoma;
mock plane(-tree), the sycamore,
Acer Pseudo-Platanus;
mock privet, the genus
Phillyrea;
mock saffron,
Carthamus tinctorius;
mock willow,
Spiræa salicifolia.
| 1754 Catal. Seeds in Fam. Rose Kilravock (Spald. Club) 428 *Mock acacia. |
| 1860 Gray Man. Bot. 156 Discopleura. *Mock Bishop-weed. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 54 Myrrhis is called in Cambrygeshyre casshes, in other places *mockecheruel. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccc. 884 Pecten Veneris..Shepheards Needle, wilde Cheruill, Mock-Cheruill. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 86 Regalicum is also named Ruta cararia, Galega, & Gaiarda... It maye be called in englishe *mocke Licores. |
| 1698 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XX. 316 Five leaved *Mock-Mustard. |
| 1837 R. Ellison Kirkstead 26 Thickets..Of sweet *Mock-myrtle and of purple Ling. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Syringa..The *Mock-Orange; vulgo. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 59 There is particularly one very beautiful, bois jaune, or yellow wood: by some called the mock orange. 1903 Quiller-Couch Adv. H. Revel 139 A bush of mock-orange at the end of the verandah. |
| 1860 Gray Man. Bot. 308 Hedeoma. *Mock Pennyroyal. |
| 1797–1804 Martyn Miller's Gard. Dict. (1807) s.v. Acer, With us it [the Great Maple] is vulgarly called the Sycomore-tree and by some *Mock-plane. 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 521 The latter [Acer Pseudo-platanus] is generally known under the names of the Sycamore, Greater Maple, and Mock-plane. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. liv. 1209 Of *mocke Priuet. 1 Phillyrea angustifolia. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Philyrea, Mock-Privet. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 29 Cnecus or cnicus is called..in englishe Bastarde saffron or *mocke-saffron. |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal App. 1601 This Willow leaued Shrub..I have named in English *Mocke willow. |
c. in names of birds, as
mock-nightingale, (
a) the blackcap,
Sylvia atricapilla; (
b) the Garden warbler,
Sylvia salicaria; (
c) the White-throat,
Sylvia rufa (or
Motacilla sylvia); (
d) the Sedge warbler,
Acrocephalus schœnobænus;
mock regent-bird, an Australian Honey-eater,
Meliphaga phrygia;
mock-thrush U.S. = mocking Thrush.
| 1768 Pennant Zool. II. 262 It [the blackcap]..is called in Norfolk the *mock-nightingale. 1831 Montagu's Ornith. Dict. (ed. 2) 42 It does not appear to me that the provincial names of Mock-nightingale, Nettle-creeper, Nettle-monger, are ever applied to the Blackcap, but to the White-throat and the Fauvette. 1878 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 541/1 The name..Mock-Nightingale is in England occasionally given to some of the Warblers, especially the Blackcap..and the Sedge-bird. |
| 1848 Gould Birds Austral. IV. 48 Warty-faced Honey-eater... *Mock Regent-Bird, [of the] Colonists of New South Wales. |
| 1890 Century Dict., *Mock-thrush. |
3. Comb. a. with
adjs. and
advs. with the sense ‘in a counterfeit manner’, ‘simulatedly’. Chiefly implying humorous or ludicrous simulation, as in
mock-heroic.
| a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 178 Seven mock-bright Angels on the Deck appear'd. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 44 note, A mock-serious tone. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xliv. 173 The men, pompous, mouthing, and mock-dignified. 1864 G. Meredith Emilia xxxvi, ‘It is done, sometimes’, she said, mock-sadly. 1871 ― H. Richmond xlvii, I told her mock-loftily that I did not believe in serious illnesses coming to godlike youth. 1880 Swinburne Stud. Shaks. (ed. 2) 198 A pseudocritical and mock-historic society. 1893 Outing (U.S.) May 120/1 ‘Thank you..Mr. Smith!’ she said, with a mock-offended air. 1900 G. Swift Somerley 117 Prudishly mock-modest. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 479/1 The sumptuous mock-Tudor mansion. 1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xxiii. 421 Mock-learned words, like scrumptious, rambunctious, absquatulate. 1936 Discovery Oct. 321/2 The short ‘Brutus’ curls of regency mock-classical beauties. 1949 Koestler Insight & Outlook vii. 105 His facial expression and whole attitude must be mock-aggressive. 1951 W. de la Mare Winged Chariot 58 Mock-solemn creatures, with our jackdaw airs. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) iii. 38 Russell inquired, in customary mock-religious tones, about the state of the Street [sc. Wall Street] and cotton futures. 1958 Spectator 8 Aug. 193/1 The viewer who is sitting proudly in mock-antique splendour. 1968 Listener 18 July 92/3 A baron who mock-diffidently invites him to dinner. 1969 Ibid. 9 Jan. 43/3 We all went off to the pub: mock Tudor, phoney like the rest of us. 1975 J. Howlett Christmas Spy ii. ii. 42 Her mock-Jacobean entrance hall. |
b. with a verb, with the humorous sense ‘pretendingly’; also with a
ppl. adj., as
† mock-made a., made as a counterfeit.
| a 1619 Fletcher Bonduca iv. ii, I defie thee, thou mock-made man of mat! a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Somerset (1662) iii. 31 Other mens mock-commending verses thereon [sc. Coryat's Crudities]. 1889 J. Corbett Monk xi. 158 He [i.e. Monk's butler] was a wag whom Charles the First had mock-knighted one evening at supper with his table-knife. |
▪ VI. mock, v. (
mɒk)
Forms: 5
mokken,
moke,
mocque, 5–6
mokkyn,
mok, 5–7
mocke, 6–
mock.
[ME. mokken, mocque, ad. OF. mocquer (F. moquer) to deride, jeer, a northern dialect form corresp. to the synonymous Pr. mochar, It. moccare. According to some scholars, the word represents a popular L.
*muccāre to wipe the nose (whence F.
moucher,
It. moccare),
f. *mucc-us (class. L.
mūcus: see
mucus). With the
OF. (whence the
Eng.) transitive use,
cf. L.
ēmungĕre to wipe the nose, to cheat. The reflexive use (the only one in
mod.Fr.)
se moquer de quelqu'un, may originally have denoted the derisive gesture imitative of the movement of wiping the nose. In
mod. Proven{cced}al, according to Mistral,
mouca means ‘to wipe the nose’, ‘to strike on the nose’, while
se mouca = F.
se moquer, and
moucado means ‘a blow on the nose’, ‘a humiliation’.
Another hypothesis, less plausible semasiologically, would connect the word with
Ger. dial. mucken to growl, grumble,
OHG. irmuccazan ‘mutire’ (
mod.G.
mucksen to grumble).]
1. a. trans. To hold up to ridicule; to deride; to assail with scornful words or gestures.
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 64 Thei were mocked and scorned of alle folke for her leudnesse. c 1450 Mankind 371 in Macro Plays 14 Haue ȝe non other man to moke, but euer me? 1484 Caxton Fables of Poge vii, Alle the sallary or payment of them that mokken other is for to be mocqued at the last. 1530 Palsgr. 639/2 He mocketh hym at every worde and yet the foole perceyveth it nat. Ibid. 663/1, I potte, I mocke one with makyng a potte in the syde of my mouth. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 34 Loe, how he mockes me, wilt thou let him my Lord? 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. ii. 156 Mock not a Cobler for his black thumbes. 1781 W. Cameron in Sc. Paraphr. xvii. vi, Mock not my name with honours vain, but keep my holy laws. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 273 Art thou a fiend..Come here to mock..My dying agony. 1869 M. Arnold Urania vii, With smiles, till then, Coldly she mocks the sons of men. |
b. With
adv. or phr. as complement: To bring to a certain condition by mockery. Now
rare. Also,
† to mock out: (
a) to evade (an argument, etc.) by mockery or trifling; (
b) to gain by mocking or buffoonery.
| 1533 [Tindale] Supper of the Lord E vj, And as for M. More, whom the verite most offendeth, & doth but mocke it out when he can not sole it. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 509 For there [at court] thou needs must learne to laugh, to lie,..to be a beetle-stock Of thy great Masters will, to scorne, or mock. So maist thou chaunce mock out a Benefice. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 285 Many a thousand widows Shall this his Mocke, mocke out of their deer husbands; Mocke mothers from their sonnes, mocke Castles downe. 1625 Jackson Creed v. xxiv. §4 He would..be mocked out of his skin by Courtiers. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. vii. §18 It was no solœcisme to the gravity of Eliah to mock Baals priests out of their superstition. a 1863 Woolner My Beautiful Lady 60 Some gigantic bell, Whose thunder laughing through my brain Mocked me back to flesh again. |
c. To defy; to set at nought.
| 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 38, I thinke likewise this reason shuld be mocked. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. i. 30, I would ore-stare the sternest eies that looke... Yea, mocke the Lion when he rores for pray To win the Ladie. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 185 Fill our Bowles once more: Let's mocke the midnight Bell. 1877 C. Geikie Christ lxi. (1879) 746 The hierarchy..know how to honor the appearance of justice while mocking the reality. |
d. fig. of impersonal things.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 628 Our walks at noon, with branches overgrown, That mock our scant manuring. 1741–2 Gray Agrippina 156 These hated walls that seem to mock my shame. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 248 Though my harsh touch, falt'ring still, But mock'd all tune, And marr'd the dancer's skill. 1788 T. Warton On H. M. Birth-day 51 And many a fane he rear'd, that still sublime In massy pomp has mock'd the stealth of time. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe vii. 28 A perishing That mocks the gladness of the Spring. 1821 Shelley Adonais 17 Melodies, With which, like flowers that mock the corse beneath, He had adorned and hid the coming bulk of Death. 1847 A. R. C. Dallas Look to Jerus. (ed. 4) 84 Australasia and Polynesia have arisen to mock our arithmetic. 1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Works I. 13 Their artless sport did not seem to mock her, as did the sunshine and the breeze. |
2. a. intr. To use or give utterance to ridicule; to act or speak in derision; to jeer, scoff; to flout. Const.
at,
† with.
| c 1450 Mankind 358 in Macro Plays 14 We xall bargen with yow, & noþer moke nor scorne. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) ii. viii. 107 Also those the whyche mocketh with these auncyentes. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 202 This forsooth is not to mocke with the Scriptures. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xli. (1887) 239 Some..do vse to abase them, and to mocke at mathematicall heades. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. vii. 21 Lactantius Firmian, and S. Augustine mocke at such as hold there be any Antipodes. 1611 Bible Prov. i. 26, I also will laugh at your calamitie, I wil mocke when your feare commeth. 1784 Cowper Task v. 122 Thus Nature works as if to mock at Art. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. v. Fleet limbs that mocked at time. 1822 Shelley Chas. I, ii. 386 If fear were made for kings, the Fool mocks wisely. 1884 Tennyson Becket iv. ii, Will he not mock at me? |
† b. To jest, trifle; to make sport.
Obs.| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 341/2 Mokkyn, or iapyn, or tryfelyn, ludifico. c 1460 Wisdom 826 in Macro Plays 62 Mynde... On a soper I wyll..Set a noble with goode chere redyly to spende. Wndyrstondynge. And I tweyn be þis feer, To moque at a goode dyner. 1537 Sir J. Dudley in Froude Hist. Eng. III. 253 He..mocked not with me, for he brake down a part of the decks of my ship. 1611 Bible Gen. xix. 14 Lot..said,..the Lord wil destroy this citie: but hee seemed as one that mocked, vnto his sonnes in law. |
3. a. trans. To deceive or impose upon; to delude, befool; to tantalize, disappoint.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1412 In spech off luff suttell ye Sotheroun ar; Ye can ws mok, suppos ye se no mar. 1538 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 141 He dothe but to dyvise to mocke al the world by practises with faire wordes for his owne purpose. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 246 Let us not wilfully mocke our selues to our own destruction. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. ii. 126 My Father is gone wilde into his Graue,..And with his Spirits, sadly I suruiue, To mocke the expectation of the World; To frustrate Prophesies. 1611 Bible Judg. xvi. 10 Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told mee lies. 1648 Bp. Hall Breathings Devout Soul (1851) 201 What would it avail me, O Lord, to mock the eyes of all the world with a semblance of holiness? 1667 Milton P.L. x. 773 Why am I mockt with death, and length'nd out To deathless pain? 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. iii. (1873) 17 What stately vision mocks my waking sense? 1819 Shelley Fragm. Tale Untold 4 Empty cups..Which mock the lips with air, when they are thirsting. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 381 As long as our civilization is essentially one of property,..it will be mocked by delusions. 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna i. 15 Mind is a light which the Gods mock us with, To lead those false who trust it. |
† b. To disappoint
of something promised.
Obs.| 1541 in I. S. Leadam Sel. Cas. Crt. Requests (Selden) 61 Your sayd servant and subiet was..dissapoynted and mocked of suche bandoges as he shold have had. |
4. a. To ridicule by imitation of speech or action. (The current colloquial use, and presumably as old as the 16th c., but not evidenced in literature.) Hence, to imitate or resemble closely; to mimic, counterfeit. (
Cf. mocking-bird.)
| 1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 173 Another [sc. drum] shall..rattle the Welkins eare, And mocke the deepe mouth'd Thunder. 1611 ― Wint. T. v. iii. 19–20 Prepare To see the Life as liuely mock'd, as euer Still Sleepe mock'd Death. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, To Mock, or mimick another. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iii. 335 For what live ever here?..to bid each wretched day The former mock? 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam vi. xlv. 7 He [a horse] would spread His nostrils to the blast, and joyously Mock the fierce peal with neighings. 1822 ― Chas. I, ii. 98 He mocks and mimics all he sees and hears. 1827–44 Willis Lazarus & Mary 16 Like life well mock'd in marble. 1843 Ruskin Mod. Paint. ii. iv. iv. 311 Not one of Stansfield's lines is like another. Every one of Salvator's mocks all the rest. 1867 G. G. McCrae Balladeadro 30 (Morris) There the proud lyre-bird spreads his tail, And mocks the notes of hill and dale. |
† b. To simulate, make a false pretence of.
Obs.| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 255, I long till Edward fall by Warres mischance, For mocking Marriage with a Dame of France. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. v. i. 2 Go to him Dollabella, bid him yeeld, Being so frustrate, tell him, He mockes the pawses that he makes. |
c. to mock up: to make a mock-up of (see
mock-up); also, to counterfeit, simulate, imitate; to contrive or improvise;
freq. mocked-up ppl. a.| 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 971/2 The shapes and sizes of the armour plates are sometimes obtained by the ‘mocking up’ process, in which the surface of the armour is represented in three dimensions. 1914 in W. S. Churchill World Crisis 1911–14 (1923) 527 It is necessary to construct without delay a dummy fleet... They are then to be mocked up to represent particular battleships of the 1st and 2nd Battle Squadrons. Ibid. 528 The utmost secrecy must be observed, and special measures taken to banish all foreigners from the districts where the mocking-up [of the battleships] is being done. 1950 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIV. 305/1 The first type should be used..provided that certain sections, as for example the engine installation, are mocked up accurately, if necessary as a separate mock-up. 1952 Archit. Rev. CXII. 55 It consisted of fabrics and prototype furniture by Terence Conran, arranged in a room cunningly mocked-up with a couple of venetian blinds and a bamboo ceiling. 1955 A. H. N. Green-Armytage Portrait St. Luke vii. 121 Mocked-up discourses in the biography of a man whose trade it was to deliver discourses of his own. 1959 Observer 5 April 18/4 The fuddy-duddy diplomat whose mocked-up vicissitudes make the story. 1961 Listener 12 Oct. 576/3 Denis Mitchell mocked up a couple of glimpses of America. 1967 Ibid. 2 Feb. 175/3 Not a very good play, perhaps, with some mocked-up dialogue and sex brought in as a perfunctory afterthought. |
† 5. In the 17th c. the verb-stem was prefixed to a few
ns., forming compound
ns. with the sense ‘one who or something which mocks{ddd}’:
mock-beggar, (
a) applied to a house that has an appearance of wealth, but is either deserted or else inhabited by miserly or poor persons; also as quasi-proper name,
Mock-Beggar('s Hall, etc.; (
b) used by Florio (? erroneously) for
bull-beggar;
mock-clown nonce-wd., a trick that deludes rustics;
mock-guest, one who disappoints his guests of the liberal entertainment which he has led them to expect; in
quot. fig. Also
mock-God.
| 1611 Florio, Beffana, a bug-beare, a scarcrow, a *mock⁓begger, a toy to mocke an ape. 1615 Cupids Whirligig C 4, Whats this, A shirt that ye weare, Else 'tis a mock⁓beggar with stripes. 1616 Rich Cabinet 52 A Gentleman without meanes, is like a faire house without furniture, or any inhabitant,..whose rearing was chargeable to the owner, and painfull to the builder, and all ill-bestowed, to make a mock-begger, that hath no good morrowe for his next neighbour. 1622 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Water-Cormorant C 2 b, The poore receiue their answer from the Dawes, Who in their caaing language call it plaine Mockbegger Manour, for they came in vaine. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Mock-Beggar-Hall. 1835 Horsfield Sussex I. 136 Some old buildings in a place called the Mock-beggars. 1840 Gentl. Mag. Oct. 338 Both places..bear the name of Mock-Beggar's Hall. The one is an insulated rock near Bakewell..presenting from the road the semblance of a house... The other is a Tudor..mansion in the parish of Claydon..which..remained so long unoccupied as to be the cause of numerous disappointments to those travellers who had never been taken in before. |
| 1598 Florio, Ingannauillano, the name of a leape or sault so called in Italian, as we should say *mock-clowne. |
| 1642 Fuller Holy St. i. i. 3 Some women which hang out signes..will not lodge strangers; yet these *mock-guests are guilty in tempting others to tempt them. |