Slapstick is comedy of falls, chases and knockabout blows. Pure slapstick, slapstick humour, a slapstick routine.
It needs no language, which is why it travelled across the world in the silent film era better than any other kind of comedy. The name is a real object: two boards hinged to crack loudly when they strike, so a stage blow sounded far worse than it was.
1nounslapstickComedy of falls, chases and knockabout blows.
“The film is pure slapstick, with custard pies and people falling into swimming pools.”
slapstick is a comedy.
Slap plus stick, from the hinged boards used in Italian comedy to make a loud crack on a stage blow.
Italian
batacchio
English, today
slapstick
From slap + stick, Italian batacchio. The pair of sticks was used by the comic character Harlequin in the commedia dell'arte.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA