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slapstick

[slap-stik]

Origin

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noun

broad comedy characterized by boisterous action, as the throwing of pies in actors' faces, mugging, and obvious farcical situations and jokes.

a stick or lath used by harlequins, clowns, etc., as in pantomime, for striking other performers, especially a combination of laths that make a loud, clapping noise without hurting the person struck.

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adjective

using, or marked by the use of, broad farce and horseplay: a slapstick motion picture.

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So is quincunx. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism; slap¹ + stick¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To slapstick

Collins

World English Dictionary

slapstick (ˈslæpˌstɪk)

—n
1.	a. comedy characterized by horseplay and physical action
	b. (as modifier): slapstick humour
2.	a flexible pair of paddles bound together at one end, formerly used in pantomime to strike a blow to a person with a loud clapping sound but without injury

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

slapstick

"farcical physical comedy, horseplay," 1926, from slapstick (1896) a device consisting of two sticks fastened together so as to slap loudly when a clown or actor hits somebody with it, or to make a sound-effect offstage; from slap and stick.

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Related Words

burlesque circus collage custard-pie

custard-pie Keystone Kop knockabout

Matching Quote

"The American distinction between the schlemiel and the schlimazl, summarized in the rule of thumb that says the former spills the soup, the latter is the one into whose lap it falls, provides a helpful basis for definition. The schlemiel is the active disseminator of bad luck, and the schlimazl its passive victim. Or, more sharply defined, the schlimazl happens upon mischance, he has a penchant for lucklessness, but the unhappy circumstances remain outside him, and always suggest the slapstick quality of surprise. The schlemiel's misfortune is his character. It is not accidental, but essential. Whereas comedy involving the schlimazl tends to be situational, the schlemiel's comedy is essential, deriving from his very nature in its confrontation with reality."

-Ruth R. Wisse

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slapstick

slap·stick