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Burlesque vs Wit - What's the difference?

burlesque | wit | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between burlesque and wit

is that burlesque is a derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody while wit is sanity.

As verbs the difference between burlesque and wit

is that burlesque is to make a burlesque parody of while wit is know, be aware of construed with of when used intransitively.

As an adjective burlesque

is parodical; parodic.

As a preposition wit is

{{en-SoE}} an alternative spelling of lang=en.

burlesque

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Parodical; parodic
  • * Addison
  • It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.

    Derived terms

    * burlesquely

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.
  • * Addison
  • Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accoutrements of heroes, the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people.
  • * Dryden
  • The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, / And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque  ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”}}
  • A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
  • A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.
  • * Burke
  • Who is it that admires, and from the heart is attached to, national representative assemblies, but must turn with horror and disgust from such a profane burlesque and abominable perversion of that sacred institute?

    Synonyms

    * (parody) lampoon, travesty

    Verb

    (burlesqu)
  • To make a parody of
  • * {{quote-news, 1988, February 5, Billie Lawless, Laying Down the Lawless, Chicago Reader citation
  • , passage=When the venerable New York Times took my quote in which I described the neon elements as "burlesquing the myth of male dominance" and instead printed "he prefers to describe them as . . . symbols of male dominance" it became clear that dealing with journalists was going to be one long, rocky road.}}
  • To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.
  • * Stillingfleet
  • They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule.
    ----

    wit

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) . Compare (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Sanity.
  • The senses.
  • Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.
  • The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.
  • Intelligence; common sense.
  • Humour, especially when clever or quick.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;
  • A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.
  • Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * brevity is the soul of wit * collect one's wits * gather one's wits * have one’s wits about one * inwit * mother wit * native wit * scare out of one’s wits * witcraft * witful * witless * witling * witter * wittol * witticism

    See also

    (type of humor) * acid * biting * cutting * lambent

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . Compare (m).

    Verb

    (head)
  • (ambitransitive, chiefly, archaic) Know, be aware of .
  • You committed terrible actions — to wit , murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.
    They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.
  • * 1849 , , St. Luke the Painter , lines 5–8
  • but soon having wist
    How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day
    Are symbols also in some deeper way,
    She looked through these to God and was God’s priest.
    Conjugation
    {, , - , valign="top" , {, class="prettytable" , - ! Infinitive , to wit , - ! Imperative , wit , - ! Present participle , witting , - ! Past participle , wist , } , valign="top" , {, class="prettytable" , - ! ! Present indicative ! Past indicative , - ! First-person singular , I wot , I wist , - ! Second-person singular , thou wost, wot(test) (archaic); you wot , thou wist(est) (archaic), you wist , - ! Third-person singular , he/she/it wot , he/she/it wist , - ! First-person plural , we wit(e) , we wist , - ! Second-person plural , ye wit(e) (archaic); you wit(e) , ye wist (archaic), you wist , - ! Third-person plural , they wit(e) , they wist , } , }
    Usage notes
    * As a preterite-present verb, the third-person singular indicative form is not .
    Derived terms
    * to wit * unwitting * witness

    Etymology 3

    From English with.

    Preposition

    (head)
  • (en-SoE)