farce

F'ARCE, v.t. [L. farcio.]

1. To stuff; to fill with mingled ingredients. [Little used.]

The first principles of religion should not be forced with school points and private tenets.

2. To extend; to swell out; as the farced title. [Little used.]

F'ARCE, n. f'ars. [Literally, seasoning, stuffing or mixture, like the stuffing of a roasted fowl; force-meat.]

A dramatic composition, originally exhibited by charlatans or buffoons, in the open street, for the amusement of the crowd, but now introduced upon the stage. It is written without regularity, and filled with ludicrous conceits. The dialogue is usually low, the persons of inferior rank, and the fable or action trivial or ridiculous.

Farce is that in poetry which grotesque is in a picture: the persons and actions of a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false.