Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FARCE, n. [fàrs; Fr. farce; It. farsa; Sp. id.; from farcio, to stuff. 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. Encyc. 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. Dryden.