[ANTI- 2.] A grotesque interlude between the acts of a masque, to which it served as a foil, and of which it was at first often a burlesque. (Sometimes made Antic-masque.)
1613. Chapman, Inns of Court, Plays, 1873, III. 107. A company of accomplisht Trauailers … excellent at Antemaskes.
1622. B. Jonson, Masque of Augurs. We may be admitted, if not for a masque, for an antic-masque.
1625. Bacon, Masques, Ess. (Arb.), 540. Let Anti-masques not be long: they haue been commonly of Fooles, Satyres, Baboones … Antiques.
1761. Lond. & Environs, IV. 73 (Jod.). The first antimasque consisted of beggars and cripples.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., X. 1903. The impatient antimasque treads close on kibe O’ the very masque’s self it will mock.
