Hudibrastic

American  

[hyoo-duh-bras-tik, yoo-] / ˌhyu dəˈbræs tɪk, ˌyu- /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling the style of Samuel Butler's Hudibras (published 1663–78), a mock-heroic poem written in tetrameter couplets.

2. of a playful burlesque style.

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noun

1. a Hudibrastic couplet or stanza.

hudibrastic British  

/ ˌhjuːdɪˈbræstɪk /

adjective

1. mock-heroic in style

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Other Word Forms

• Hudibrastically adverb

Etymology

Origin of Hudibrastic

1705–15; Hudibras + -tic

Example Sentences

The catholic Ward, in his singular Hudibrastic poem of "England's Reformation," in some odd rhymes, has characterised it by a naïveté, which we are much too delicate to repeat.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2 by Disraeli, Isaac

Butler made the octosyllabic couplet so entirely his own, for the purposes of his jogging satiric verse, that ever since it has frequently been called "Hudibrastic."

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald

The young man at the wheel pursed his lips as if he were going to whistle; then he appeared to comprehend suddenly and went off in another gust of Hudibrastic mirth.

From Stranded in Arcady by Lynde, Francis

There is great Hudibrastic vigour in these lines; and those on the doctors are also very terse.

From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson

Ross, now-a-days best known as the Ross of Hudibrastic memory.

From Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth Century by Macray, William Dunn