▪ I. parody, n.1
(ˈpærədɪ)
Also 7 parode.
[ult. ad. Gr. παρῳδία a burlesque poem or song, f. παρ(α- beside, in subsidiary relation, mock-, etc. + {wlenisisub}δή song, poem; perh. immed. from L. parōdia or F. parodie (1622 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. A composition in prose or verse in which the characteristic turns of thought and phrase in an author or class of authors are imitated in such a way as to make them appear ridiculous, especially by applying them to ludicrously inappropriate subjects; an imitation of a work more or less closely modelled on the original, but so turned as to produce a ridiculous effect. Also applied to a burlesque of a musical work.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. v. v, Clem. [reads some poetry]. How? this is stolne! E. Kn. A Parodie, a parodie! to make it absurder then it was. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass v. 35 All which in a parode, imitating Virgil wee may set downe. 1693 Dryden Juvenal Ded. (1697) 34 From some Fragments of the Silli,..we may find, that they were Satryrique Poems, full of Parodies; that is, of Verses patch'd up from great Poets, and turn'd into another Sence than their Author intended them. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 132 note, The history of Aristæus is nearly a parody of the histories of Orpheus and Cadmus. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 134 The derivations in the Cratylus..are a parody of some contemporary Sophist. |
2. transf. and fig. A poor or feeble imitation, a travesty.
| 1830 Coleridge Table-t. 5 Oct., The Brussels riot..is a wretched parody on the last French revolution. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 106 Tuscanella,..now a petty hamlet, had a government whose complication looked like a parody on the Lombard republics. 1900 W. M. Ramsay in Expositor Mar. 210 Such a parody of justice could be paralleled only by the very worst acts attributed to the Inquisition. |
¶ [‘A popular maxim, adage or proverb’ (Bailey 1730–6). Some error.]
▪ II. † parody, n.2 Obs. rare.
[Only in Chaucer, and (after him) in Lydgate; app. a distorted form of F. période (14th c.), period (not found in Eng. in its proper spelling till later).]
A period; a term of duration, life, etc.
| ? c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1548 Among al þis þe fyn of þe parodye [gloss (Harl. MS. 2280) duracion] Of Ector gan approchen wonder blyue. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxvii. (MS. Digby 230) lf. 129 b/2 When þe parodie of þis worþi knyȝt [Hector] Aprochen shal. Ibid. v. xxxviii. lf. 190/2 And howe þat he [Ulysses] myȝte not escape The Parodye þ{supt} was for him y shape; For Parchas han his laste terme set. 1430–40 ― Bochas iv. x. (MS. Bodl. 263) lf. 227/2 Parodie [ed. 1554 periody] of pryncis may nat chaunged be The terme sette fro which thei may nat flee. |
▪ III. parody, v.
(ˈpærədɪ)
[f. parody n.1; perh. after F. parodier (1690 in Furetière).]
1. trans. To compose a parody on (a work or author); to turn into parody; to ridicule (a composition) by imitating it.
| a 1745 Pope (J.), I have translated, or rather parodied, a poem of Horace, in which I introduce you advising me. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. 149 The best Men, as well as the best Tragedies, were parodied or ridiculed more commonly than the worst. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. II. x. 24 He parodied music as well as words. 1894 Lowell in Century Mag. May 24/2 [Milton] is easily parodied and easily imitated. |
b. intr. To write or compose a parody.
| 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 3365 Archippos punned, Hegemon parodied. |
2. trans. In general sense: To imitate in a way that is no better than a parody.
| 1801 Southey Thalaba ix. note, I could show that it is the trick of Beelzebub to parody the costume of religion. 1869 Rogers Adam Smith's W.N. I. Pref. 20 After his death, his [Pitt's] finance was parodied by incapable successors. 1878 Miss J. E. A. Brown in Sunday Mag. Dec. 42 Children of the period, who parody the ways and the worldliness of men and women. |