Dictionary entry

Mockery

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Mock″er‐y (?), n.; pl.Mockeries (#). [F. moquerie.] 1. The act of mocking, deriding, and exposing to contempt, by mimicry, by insincere imitation, or by a false show of earnestness; a counterfeit appearance.

It is, as the air, invulnerable,

And our vain blows malicious mockery. Shak.

Grace at meals is now generally so performed as to look more like a mockery upon devotion than any solemn application of the mind to God. Law.

And bear about the mockery of woe. Pope.

2. Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule.

The laughingstock of fortune's mockeries. Spenser.

3. Subject of laughter, derision, or sport.

The cruel handling of the city whereof they made a mockery. 2 Macc. viii. 17.