burlesque

Etymology

Borrowed from French burlesque, from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).

adj

1. (dated) Parodical; parodic
   Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking. 1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, page 791

noun

1. A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.
   “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]” 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Lisson Grove Mystery
2. A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
3. A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.

verb

1. To make a burlesque parody of.
   When the venerable New York Times took my quote in which I described the neon elements as "burlesquing the myth of male dominance" and instead printed "he prefers to describe them as . . . symbols of male dominance" it became clear that dealing with journalists was going to be one long, rocky road. February 5 1988, Billie Lawless, “Laying Down the Lawless”, in Chicago Reader
2. To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.
   They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule. 1678, Edward Stillingfleet, A Sermon preached on the Fast-Day, November 13, 1678