antimasquer

English

Alternative forms

• antimasker

Noun

antimasquer (plural antimasquers)

1. One who takes part in an antimasque.
   • 1790, “Manners o fthe Time of Charles the First displayed in an Account of a Musical Mask”, in The New Annual Register, page 166:

     The dauncers, masquers, antimasquers, and musicians did befor hand practice in the place where they were to present the masque, and the sceanes were artfully prepared (by Inigo Jones) att the lower end of the banquetting house, and all things were in readyness.

   • 1859, David Masson, The Life of John Milton:

     Next came a still more popular part—the antimasquers or comic and satirical part.

   • 1999, Nancy Weitz, Menacing Virgins: Representing Virginity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance:

     But Sabrina is no antimasquer. Instead, she introduces this alternative mode of signification into the masque proper, where she becomes moreover a necessary ally in the reunification of the aristocratic family.

   • 2012, Gail Kern Paster, The Idea of the City in the Age of Shakespeare, page 133:

     This downward metamorphosis serves to justify the low place of the antimasquers in the social scheme and to underscore how limited their social contribution must be.