mock

English

Alternative forms

• mocque (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English mokken, from Old French mocquer, moquier (“to deride, jeer”), from Middle Dutch mocken (“to mumble”) or Middle Low German mucken (“to grumble, talk with the mouth half-opened”), both from Proto-West Germanic *mokkijan, *mukkijan (“to low, bellow; mumble”), from Proto-Germanic *mukkijaną, *mūhaną (“to low, bellow, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mūg-, *mūk- (“to low, mumble”).

Cognate with Dutch mokken (“to sulk; pout; mope; grumble”), Old High German firmucken (“to be stupid”), Modern German mucksen (“to utter a word; mumble; grumble”), West Frisian mokke (“to mope; sulk; grumble”), Swedish mucka (“to murmur”), dialectal Dutch mokkel (“kiss”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɒk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mɔk/, /mɑk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Homophones: mark, Mark, marque (non-rhotic with father-bother merger)

Noun

mock (plural mocks)

1. An imitation, usually of lesser quality.
   • a. 1649, Richard Crashaw, The Hymn:

     Is tortured thirst itself too sweet a cup?
     Gall, and more bitter mocks, shall make it up.

2. Mockery; the act of mocking.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs 14:9, column 2:

     Fooles make a mocke at ſinne: but among the righteous there is fauour.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Thus says my king; an if your father's highness
     Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
     Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
     He'll call you to so hot an answer of it

3. A practice exam set by an educating institution to prepare students for an important exam.

   He got a B in his History mock, but improved to an A in the exam.

4. (software engineering) A mockup or prototype; particularly, ellipsis of mock object., as used in unit testing.
   • 2013, Jeff Langr, Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development:

     You can, if you must, create a mock that derives from a concrete class. The problem is that the resulting class represents a mix of production and mocked behavior, a beast referred to as a partial mock.

   • 2020, Cătălin Tudose, JUnit in Action, 3rd edition, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 139:

     Mocks replace the objects with which your methods under test collaborate, thus offering a layer of isolation.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mock (third-person singular simple present mocks, present participle mocking, simple past and past participle mocked)

1. To mimic, to simulate.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     To see the life as lively mocked as ever / Still sleep mocked death.

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Mocking marriage with a dame of France.

2. (rare) To create an artistic representation of.
   • 1817 (published 11 January 1818), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Sonnet. Ozymandias.”, in Rosalind and Helen, a Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, London: for C and J Ollier, , published 1819, →OCLC, page 92:

     [I]ts sculptor well those passions read / Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, / The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: […]

4. To make fun of, especially by mimicking; to taunt.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Kings 18:27, column 1:

     And it came to paſſe at noone, that Eliiah mocked them, and ſaide, Crie aloud: for he is a god, either he is talking, or he is purſuing, or hee is in a iourney, or peraduenture he ſleepeth, and muſt be awaked.

   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: R Dodsley, , published 1753, →OCLC:

     Let not ambition mock their useful toil.

5. To tantalise, and disappoint the hopes of.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     "It is the greene-ey'd Monster, which doth mocke / The meate it feeds on."

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Judges 16:13, column 2:

     And Delilah ſaid vnto Samſon, hitherto thou haſt mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mighteſt be bound.

   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     Why do I overlive? / Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out / to deathless pain?

   • 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC:

     He will not […] / Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.

   • 1765, Benjamin Heath, A revisal of Shakespear's text, page 563 (a commentary on the "mocke the meate" line from Othello):

     ‘Mock’ certainly never signifies to loath. Its common signification is, to disappoint.

   • 1812, The Critical Review or, Annals of Literature, page 190:

     The French revolution indeed is a prodigy which has mocked the expectations both of its friends and its foes. It has cruelly disappointed the fondest hopes of the first, nor has it observed that course which the last thought that it would have pursued.

6. (software engineering, transitive) To create a mockup or prototype of.
   • 2016, Murat Yener, Onur Dundar, Expert Android Studio, page 233:

     They can also mock other integration points such as backend, database, or any other external resource.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:mock
• See also Thesaurus:imitate

Derived terms

• mock out
• mockworthy

Translations

See also

• jeer

Adjective

mock (not comparable)

1. Imitation, not genuine; fake.

   mock leather

   mock trial

   mock turtle-soup

   • 1776, United States Declaration of Independence:

     For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

Translations

Anagrams

• KCMO

Middle English

Noun

mock

1. Alternative form of muk