grotesque

grotesque
\ \ [16] Etymologically, grotesque means ‘grotto-like’. Its Italian source, grottesco, was used in the phrase pittura grottesca, literally ‘grotto-like pictures’, denoting wall paintings of the sort discovered in the excavated basements of old buildings. Many of them were evidently bizarre or highly imaginative, and so grottesca came to mean ‘fanciful, fantastic’. English acquired the word via Old French crotesque (crotescque was the earliest English spelling, later re-formed as grotesque on the basis of French grotesque and Italian grottesca), and in general use from the mid-18th century onward it slid towards the pejorativeness of ‘ludicrous, absurd’. The colloquial abbreviation grotty is first recorded in print in 1964.
\ \ Cf.⇒ GROTTO

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • grotesque — [ grɔtɛsk ] n. et adj. • 1532; it. grottesca, de grotta « grotte » → grotte I ♦ N. m. ou f. pl. Arts 1 ♦ Ornements fantastiques découverts aux XVe et XVIe s. dans les ruines …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • grotesque — Grotesque. adj. Il se dit des figures imaginées par le caprice du Peintre, dont une partie represente quelque chose de naturel, & l autre quelque chose de chimerique. Figures grotesques. En ce sens on l employe plus ordinairement au substantif, & …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Grotesque — (Жешув,Польша) Категория отеля: Адрес: Przesmyk 4, 35 065 Жешув, Польша Описание …   Каталог отелей

  • Grotesque — Gro*tesque (gr[ o]*t[e^]sk ), a. [F., fr. It. grottesco, fr. grotta grotto. See {Grotto}.] 1. Like the figures found in ancient grottoes; grottolike. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence: Wildly or strangely formed; whimsical; extravagant; of irregular forms… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • grotesque — [grō tesk′] adj. [Fr < It grottesca (pittura), orig., (picture) in a cave < grotta, GROTTO: from resemblance to designs found in Roman caves] 1. in or of a style of painting, sculpture, etc. in which forms of persons and animals are… …   English World dictionary

  • grotesque — (adj.) c.1600s, originally a noun (1560s), from M.Fr. crotesque (16c., Mod.Fr. grotesque), from It. grottesco, lit. of a cave, from grotta (see GROTTO (Cf. grotto)). The usual explanation is that the word first was used of paintings found on the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • grotesque — ► ADJECTIVE 1) comically or repulsively ugly or distorted. 2) shockingly incongruous or inappropriate. ► NOUN 1) a grotesque figure or image. 2) a style of decorative painting or sculpture consisting of the interweaving of human and animal forms… …   English terms dictionary

  • Grotesque — Gro*tesque, n. 1. A whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes. Dryden. [1913 Webster] 2. Artificial grotto work. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Grotesque — Grotesque, Schriftgattung, s.u. Schrift …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • grotesque — index odious, prodigious (amazing) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • grotesque — bizarre, *fantastic, antic Analogous words: baroque, rococo, flamboyant (see ORNATE): *weird, eerie, uncanny: extravagant, extreme (see EXCESSIVE): preposterous, absurd (see FOOLISH): ludicrous, ridiculous, comical, comic, droll (see LAUGHABLE) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

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