FARCE, a form of comedy in dramatic art, the object of which is to excite laughter by ridiculous situations and incidents. It originated from the Latin farcire, to stuff, and with the mean ing of "stuffing" or forcemeat it appears in old cookery books in English. The French farce, the form to which we owe our word, was originally the "gag" that the actors in the mediaeval drama inserted into their parts, generally to meet the popular demand for a lightening of humour or buffoonery. It has thus been used for the lighter form of comic drama (see DRAMA), and also figura tively for a piece of idle buffoonery, sham or mockery.