Word of the Day

: February 22, 2015

lampoon

verb lam-POON

What It Means

: to make the subject of a satire : ridicule

lampoon in Context

Trevor writes for a humor Web site that lampoons celebrities from film, music, and television.

"One has to be just a hair off center to fully appreciate Portlandia. The Peabody Award-winning sketch comedy series lampoons the hipster lifestyle and stars Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen." - Michael Storey, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 8, 2015

Did You Know?

Lampoon can be a noun or a verb. The noun lampoon (meaning "satire" or, specifically, "a harsh satire usually directed against an individual") was first used in English in 1645. The verb followed about a decade later. The words come from the French lampon, which probably originated from lampons, the first person plural imperative of lamper ("to guzzle"). Lampons! (meaning "Let us guzzle!") is a frequent refrain in 17th-century French satirical poems.