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travesty - 7 dictionary results

trav⋅es⋅ty

  [trav-uh-stee] noun, plural -ties, verb, -tied, -ty⋅ing.
Use travesty in a Sentence
–noun
1. a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter.
2. a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model.
3. any grotesque or debased likeness or imitation: a travesty of justice.
–verb (used with object)
4. to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.
5. to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.
Origin:
1655–65; < F travesti, ptp. of travestir to disguise < It travestire, equiv. to tra- (< L trāns- trans- ) + vestire to clothe < L vestīre; see vest

Synonyms:
1. See burlesque. 3. mockery, perversion, sham, distortion.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trav·es·ty   (trāv'ĭ-stē)   
n.   pl. trav·es·ties
  1. An exaggerated or grotesque imitation, such as a parody of a literary work.
  2. A debased or grotesque likeness: a travesty of justice. See Synonyms at caricature.
tr.v.   trav·es·tied, trav·es·ty·ing, trav·es·ties
To make a travesty of; parody or ridicule.

[From obsolete, disguised, burlesqued, from French travesti, past participle of travestir, to disguise, parody, from Italian travestire : Latin trāns-, trans- + Latin vestīre, to dress (from vestis, garment; see wes-2 in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Travesty

Trav"es*ty\, a. [F. travesti, p. p. of travestir to disguise, to travesty, It. travestire, fr. L. trans across, over + vestire to dress, clothe. See Vest.] Disguised by dress so as to be ridiculous; travestied; -- applied to a book or shorter composition. [R.]

Travesty

Trav"es*ty\, n.; pl. Travesties. A burlesque translation or imitation of a work.

The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely a travesty of the first. --De Quincey.

Travesty

Trav"es*ty\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Travestied; p. pr. & vb. n. Travesting.] To translate, imitate, or represent, so as to render ridiculous or ludicrous.

I see poor Lucan travestied, not appareled in his Roman toga, but under the cruel shears of an English tailor. --Bentley.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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travesty 
1674, from adj. meaning "dressed so as to be made ridiculous, parodied, burlesqued" (c.1662), from Fr. travesti "dressed in disguise," pp. of travestir "to disguise" (1592), from It. travestire "to disguise," from L. trans- "over" + vestire "to clothe" (see wear).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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travesty

in literature, the treatment of a noble and dignified subject in an inappropriately trivial manner. Travesty is a crude form of burlesque in which the original subject matter is changed little but is transformed into something ridiculous through incongruous language and style. An early example of travesty is the humorous treatment of the Pyramus and Thisbe legend in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-96). After 1660, travesty became a popular literary device in England as seen in John Phillips's Don Quixote (1687), a vulgar mockery of the original work, and Charles Cotton's travesty of Virgil, Scarronides: or, Virgile Travestie. Being the First Book of Virgil's Aeneis in English, Burlesque (1664), an imitation of the French Virgile travesty (1648-53) by Paul Scarron. (The use of the word travesty-literally, "dressed in disguise"-in the title of Scarron's work gave rise to the English word, first as an adjective.) Later the French developed the feeries folies, a musical burlesque that travestied fairy tales.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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