ludibrious
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin ludibrium (“mockery, derision”), from ludere (“to play, sport”).
Adjective[edit]
ludibrious (comparative more ludibrious, superlative most ludibrious)
- (obsolete) sportive; wanton
- 1807, Joel Barlow, The Columbiad:
- Genius, enamor'd of his fruitful bride,
Assumes new force and elevates his pride.
No more, recumbent o'er his finger'd style,
He plods whole years each copy to compile,
Leaves to ludibrious winds the priceless page,
Or to chance fires the treasure of an age;
But bold and buoyant, with his sister Fame,
He strides o'er earth, holds high his ardent flame,
Calls up Discovery with her tube and scroll,
And points the trembling magnet to the pole.
- 1959, Iona Opie, Peter Opie, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren:
- Carols, too, receive ludibrious attention; and it is not unusual for small Christmas singers at the door to offer their own words to the familiar tunes […]
- (obsolete) ridiculous
- 1619, Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrim or Microcosmus:
- the Souldiers Geniculations, thornie Coronation, and ludibrious Gesticulations
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- “ludibrious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.