mimical en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈmɪmɪk(ə)l/ (UK)
Etymology
From mimic + -al.
Meanings
- (obsolete) Pertaining to a mime, or jester.
-
(archaic) Imitative; that mimics something else.
If he can […] talk big fustian, insult, scorn, strut, contemn others, and use a little mimical and apish complement above the rest, he is a complete (Egregiam vero laudem), a well-qualified gentleman […]
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:Man is, of all creatures, the most mimical.
1651, Henry Wotton, A Philosophical Survey of Education:[F]requent jot / Of his hard ſetting jade did ſo confound / The vvords that he by papyr-ſtealth had got, / That their loſt ſenſe the youngſter could not ſound, / Though he vvith mimical attention did abound.
1640 (date written), H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΟΖΩΙΑ [Psychozōia], or A Christiano-platonicall Display of Life, […]”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, published 1642, →OCLC, book 2, stanza 47, page 26:
- (obsolete) Imitation; mock.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most mimical | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more mimical | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |