▪ I. mimic, a. and n.
(ˈmɪmɪk)
Forms: 6–7 mimmick, mimicke, -ique, 6–8 -ick, 7 mimik, mymik, 7– mimic.
[ad. L. mīmic-us, ad. Gr. µῑµικός, f. µῖµ-ος: see mime n. and -ic. Cf. F. mimique, Sp. m{iacu}mico, Pg., It. mimico.]
A. adj.
1. † a. Exercising the profession of a mime or buffoon; having the characteristics of, or resembling, a mime (obs.). b. Addicted to or having aptitude for mimicry; imitative.
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. x. H vij b, The long fooles coat, the huge slop, the lugg'd boot From mimick Piso all doe claime their roote. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 26 They would disdain to be led about the Apes, by such mymick Marmosets. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 110 Oft in her absence mimic Fansie wakes To imitate her. 1708 Rowe Roy. Convert ii. i, Some mimick Fantom wears the lovely Form. 1726 Arbuthnot It cannot rain but it pours in Swift's Wks. 1751 VI. 200 Aristotle saith, that Man is the most Mimick of all Animals. 1730 Swift Market-hill Wks. 1751 X. 146 Sly Hunters..To catch a Monkey by a Wile, The mimic Animal amuse, They place before him Gloves and Shoes. 17.. Cowper Transl. fr. V. Bourne, Parrot iii, ‘Sweet Poll!’ his doting mistress cries, ‘Sweet Poll!’ the mimic bird replies. 1821 Bryant Ages iii, Let the mimic canvass shew His calm benevolent features. |
2. Of actions, expression of countenance, etc. † a. Pertaining to or characteristic of a mime; histrionic; hence, hypocritical. Obs. b. Pertaining to, or of the nature of, mimicry or imitation.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. v, Woulds't have me..wring my face with mimic action? 1624 Gataker Transubst. 113 Where are all those..mimicke gestures and apish fooleries that their Masse-bookes enjoyne? 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 10 They circle the grave with mimmick gestures and ejaculations. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1655) I. 219 No simpring smiles, no mimic face, Affected gesture, or forc'd grace. 1727 Swift Misc., On Dreams 10 The busy Head with mimick Art runs o'er The scenes and Actions of the Day before. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxvi, Vivaldi concluded, that his dream had mocked him with a mimic voice. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 19 As I taught him the written signs of our language, Massieu taught me the mimic signs of his. |
3. That is a copy of, or imitatively resembles, what is properly denoted by the name; imitative as opposed to real.
Unlike its approximate synonyms, ‘counterfeit’, ‘mock’, ‘simulated’, etc., the word does not now imply any deceptive intention or effect, being applied primarily to artistic or playful imitation, and usually suggesting that the copy is ludicrously diminutive or insignificant as compared with the reality imitated.
| 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. xix. 213 This mimicke Goddesse, who usurped divine honours. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. v. Wks. 1851 III. 119 To frame out of their own heads as it were with wax a kinde of Mimick Bishop limm'd out to the life of a dead Priesthood. 1726 Pope Odyss. xvi. 54 A bowl..Around whose verge a mimic Ivy twines. 1749 Smollett Regicide iv. iii, Not all this pride Of mimic virtue..Shall shelter thee, deceiver! 1751 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 225, I send you some [needles], that have had their heads and points melted off by our mimic lightning. 1757 E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) II. 193 Instances in brutes of what we partially stile mimic reason. 1812 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 212 The mimic monarch [of Hayti] has been encountered with superior force by his rival. 1822 Scott Life in Forest, Along the silver streams of Tweed 'Tis blithe the mimic fly to lead. 1839 Alison Hist. Europe liv. §62 (1850) VIII. 524 The mimic warfare of the opera stage. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 399 If any one dies in these mimic contests, the homicide is involuntary. |
4. Path. (See quot.)
| 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Mimic convulsion, same as Facial spasm. Mimic facial palsy, an immobility and relaxation of the facial muscles which are supplied by the paralysed nerve... Mimic spasm, sudden and transient contraction of the muscles supplied by the portio dura of the seventh pair of cerebral nerves. |
B. n.
1. † A mime, burlesque actor (obs.); a performer who imitates the manner, attitudes, or voice of another in order to excite laughter; hence, in wider sense, one who practises or is skilled in mimicry or ludicrous imitation.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 19 Anon his Thisbie must be answered, And forth my Mimmick comes. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iii. iv, Waited on By mimiques, jesters. 1609 Dekker Gvls Horne-bk. vi. 31 Draw what troope you can from the stage after you: the Mimicks are beholden to you, for allowing them elbow roome. c 1660 Wood Life 8 Oct. (O.H.S.) I. 336 He was a great mimick, and acted well in several playes. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece i. iv. (1715) 19 [They] preferr'd a Mimick, or a Stage-player before the most Valiant Captain. 1739 Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 123 The mimick..is a great assistant to the actor. 1772 Boswell 21 Mar. in Johnson, A mimick can not only give you the gestures and voice of a person whom he represents; but even what a person would say on any particular subject. 1830 Ann. Reg., Chron. 249 Deaths..Mr. Ralph Sherwin, mimic and comedian. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 196 The mimics, revellers, and courtesans who crowded the palace. |
b. ‘A mean or servile imitator’ (J.). Occasionally of a thing: Something that mimics or feebly resembles.
| 1624 Wotton Archit. i. 7 What are the most iudicious Artisans but the Mimiques of Nature? 1711 Addison Spect. No. 225 ¶7 Cunning is only the Mimick of Discretion. 1791 Burke To Member of Nat. Assemb. Wks. 1792 III. 346 When full grown, it [vanity] is the worst of vices, and the occasional mimic of them all. It makes the whole man false. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clii, Turn to the mole which Hadrian rear'd on high, Imperial mimic of old Egypt's piles. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxiv, Despisers of mankind—apart from the mere fools and mimics, of that creed—are of two sorts. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 22 The cottage gable, bare and high, Poor forlorn mimic of the mountain crest. |
† 2. A writer of mimes, mimographer. Obs.—0
| 1721 Bailey, A Mimick, a Writer of Lampoons or short jests. |
3. Zool. and Bot. A mimetic animal or plant. Also appos. in mimic beetle (see quot. 1855).
| 1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 408 This position is always assumed by these Beetles [Histeridæ and Byrrhidæ] when alarmed; and, from this assumption of a death-like attitude, some of the commonest species have received the name of Mimic Beetles. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds s.v. Mimicry, It is pretty clear that the Mimeta..is rightly named the mimic, since it is a comparatively weak bird, and must benefit by being mistaken for the strong, pugnacious and noisy Philemon. |
4. ‘Play-acting’, mummery (obs.); mimicry, imitation. rare.
| a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 6 Compar'd to this, All honour's mimique; All wealth alchymy. 1832 Fraser's Mag. V. 197 The son of the soldier already will dare To mount the old charger, in mimic of war. |
▪ II. mimic, v.
(ˈmɪmɪk)
[f. mimic n.]
1. trans. To ridicule by imitating or copying (a person, his speech, manner, gestures, etc.).
| 1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemb. 121 To misrepresent his words and mimick his gestures. 1700 Dryden Ovid's Met. xi. Ceyx & Alcyone 330 Morpheus..express'd The Shape of Man, and imitated best; The Walk, the Words, the Gesture cou'd supply, The Habit mimick, and the Mien bely. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 229/2 Androcles..accused Alcibiades..of mimicking the sacred mysteries. 1821 Shelley Chas. I, ii. 98 He mocks and mimics all he sees and hears. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xiii, Mimicking the voice and manner of the usher. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold vi, The laird was mimicking the miller's voice and manner as well as he could. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed (1900) 91 ‘This is disgraceful’, said Maisie, mimicking Mrs. Jennett's tone. |
2. a. To imitate or copy with minute accuracy in external characteristics, e.g. in voice, gesture, style, or manner of doing anything. Chiefly in contemptuous use, as implying servile, unintelligent, or otherwise ridiculous imitation.
| 1687 Dryden Hind. & P. i. 40 The buffoon Ape..mimicked all sects and had his own to chuse. 1697 ― Virg. Past. v. 116 Alphesibœus, tripping, shall advance; And mimick Satyrs in his antick Dance. 1761 Churchill Rosciad Poems 1763 I. 50 Just in the way that monkies mimic man. 1843 Macaulay Ess., Addison (1899) 724 Thus much..is certain, both Swift and Voltaire have been successfully mimicked, and that no man has yet been able to mimic Addison. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. 27 The rest only mimicked the hero [sc. Alexander the Great]..in their demeanour, and in the trappings and state of royalty. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) viii. 168 The absurdity of mimicking a man who was his junior. |
b. with an action or attribute as object.
| 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. iii, He observed how contemptible a Thing was human Grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive Insects as I. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil ii. x. (1840) 328 The devil is known to mimic the methods, as well as the actions of his maker. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 165 When a sect becomes powerful..men crowd into it,..conform strictly to its ritual, mimic its peculiarities. 1858 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. viii. 570 They mimicked the voice of liberty—they aped her very gestures. 1905 W. H. Mallock in 19th Cent. Sept. 497 The devil had mimicked the art of the Creator. |
c. of immaterial or inanimate things personified.
| 1712 Granville Poems 173 Who wou'd with Care some happy Fiction frame, So mimicks Truth, it looks the very same. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 514 ¶2 Vice has learned so to mimick Virtue, that it often creeps in hither under its Disguise. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 77 ¶3 The prattle of affectation mimicking distresses unfelt. 1854 Patmore Angel in Ho. i. ii. vii, The leaves, all stirring, mimick'd well A neighboring rush of rivers cold. 1878 Stevenson Edinburgh (1889) 8 Behold the palace re-awakened and mimicking its past. |
3. To represent imitatively, as by drawing, painting, etc. Of things: To have a close resemblance to, to have or assume the appearance of.
| 1770 T. Whately Observ. Gardening 23 Such whimsical wonders, however, lose their effect, when represented in a picture, or mimicked in ground artificially laid. 1814 Wordsw. Excursion vi. 315 Like..clouds that mimicked land Before the sailor's eye. 1819 Keats Lamia ii. 125 Fresh carved cedar, mimicking a glade Of palm and plantain, met from either side. 1860 Reade Cloister & H. lxiii, He showed her how closely he could mimic marble on paper. |
4. a. Path. Of a disease: To exhibit symptoms that have a deceptive resemblance to those of (another disease); to simulate.
| 1744 Berkeley Siris §90 The scurvy..which indeed must be allowed to create or mimic most other maladies. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 473 Nodular forms are closely mimicked by the..febrile outbursts of nodular leprosy. |
b. Med. Of a drug: to produce an effect very similar to (that of some other cause).
| 1971 Nature 12 Feb. 497/1, d-Amphetamine closely mimicked the excitatory and inhibitory effects of l-NA. 1974 Ibid. 31 May 473/1 Colchicine..has been reported to mimic the effects of denervation on mammalian skeletal muscles. |
5. Zool. To have a ‘mimetic’ resemblance to (something else) in form or colour.
| 1861 H. W. Bates in Trans. Linn. Soc. XXIII. 504 The Leptalides..fly in the same parts of the forest, and generally in company with the species they mimic. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 62 The Geometridæ..closely mimic bits of dry stick. |