antic

adj

1. Playful, funny, absurd.

   “My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes, Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,”

   “In recounting the story of Lenny and Eunice in his antic, supercaffeinated prose, Mr. Shteyngart gives us his most powerful and heartfelt novel yet — a novel that performs the delightful feat of mashing up an apocalyptic satire with a genuine supersad true love story.”

2. Grotesque, incongruous.

   “The amusement park environment of seaside resorts such as Venice and the antic eclecticism of Greene & Greene's pre-Craftsman work all preceded the establishment of the movie colony in Hollywood.”

3. (archaic)Grotesque, bizarre

   “Fetch me my Rapier Boy, what dares the ſlaue / Come hither, couer'd with an antique face, / To fleere and ſcorne at our Solemnitie?”

   “[…] we all three enter'd the Gate of the Palace between two Rows of Guards, armed and dreſſed after a very antick manner, and ſomething in their Countenances that made my Fleſh creep with a Horror I cannot expreſs.”

   “[…]a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces, with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll.”

4. (alt-of, archaic)Archaic form of antique.

noun

1. (obsolete)A grotesque representation of a figure; a gargoyle.
2. A caricature.
3. (in-plural, often)A ludicrous gesture or act; ridiculous behaviour; caper.

   “I'm fed up with your constant antics in class. Please behave yourself!”

   “Two sets of manners, could the youth put on; / And, fraught with antics as the Indian bird / That writhes and chatters in her wiry cage, / Was graceful, when it pleased him, smooth and still / As the mute Swan that floats adown the stream, […]”

   “The woman opened the cover now and then, whereupon the kitten would put out its head, and indulge in playful antics.”

   “I've 'ad about enough of you and your antics. I been thinking you over, you and your war and your Empire and all the rot of it.”

   “Toad ceased his frivolous antics at once. He became grave and depressed, and a dull pain in the lower part of his spine, communicating itself to his legs, made him want to sit down and try desperately not to think of all the possibilities.”

4. A grotesque performer or clown, buffoon.

   “The Grave-maker, like the professional fools and Falstaff, and like Hamlet himself, is an antic, a grotesque, one who demonstrates to men how foolish and”

5. (alt-of, archaic)Archaic form of antique.
6. A pose, often exaggerated, in anticipation of an action; for example, a brief squat before jumping

verb

1. (intransitive)To perform antics, to caper.

   “Jerry no more than cocked a contemptuous quizzical eye at the mainsail anticking above him. He knew already the empty windiness of its threats, but he was careful of the mainsheet blocks, and walked around the traveller instead of over it.”

2. (obsolete)To make a fool of, to cause to look ridiculous.

   “Gentle lords, let's part; / You see we have burnt our cheeks: strong Enobarb / Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue / Splits what it speaks: the wild disguise hath almost / Antick'd us all.”

   “Whether one's surroundings were anticked up or not, one often felt one was living in another century at Roque.”

   “Surtees became a friend of Walter Scott and played a very "anticking" joke upon the author.”

3. (rare, transitive)To perform (an action) as an antic; to mimic ridiculously.

   “She unfastened her dress, her arms arched thin and high, her shadow anticking her movements.”