Dictionary entry

Antic (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

An″tic, n. 1. A buffoon or merry-andrew; one that practices odd gesticulations; the Fool of the old play.

2. An odd imagery, device, or tracery; a fantastic figure.

Woven with antics and wild imagery.

Spenser.

3. A grotesque trick; a piece of buffoonery; a caper.

And fraught with antics as the Indian bird

That writhes and chatters in her wiry cage.

Wordsworth.

4. (Arch.) A grotesque representation.

5. An antimask.

Performed by knights and ladies of his court

In nature of an antic.

Ford.