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FARCE

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 175 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FARCE , a See also:

form of the comic in dramatic See also:art, the See also:object of which is to excite See also:laughter by ridiculous situations and incidents rather than by See also:imitation with See also:intent to ridicule, which is the See also:province of See also:burlesque, or by the delineation of the See also:play of See also:character upon character, which is that of See also:comedy. The See also:history of the word is interesting. Its ultimate origin is the Latin farcire, to stuff, and with the meaning of " stuffing " or forcemeat it appears in old See also:cookery books in See also:English. In See also:medieval Latin farsa and farsia were applied to the expansion of the See also:Kyrie elcison in litanies, &c., by interpolating words and phrases between those two words; later, to words, phrases and rhymed verses, sometimes in the See also:vernacular, also interpolated in various parts of the service. The See also:French farce, the form to which we owe our word, was originally the " gag " that the actors in the medieval See also:drama inserted into their parts, generally to meet the popular demand for a lightening of See also:humour or buffoonery. It has thus been used for the lighter form of comic drama (see DRAMA), and also figuratively for a piece of idle buffoonery, sham, or mockery.

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