What is "mimic"

Mimic \Mim"ic\, n. One who imitates or mimics, especially one who does so for sport; a copyist; a buffoon.
--Burke.

Mimic \Mim"ic\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mimicked; p. pr. & vb. n. Mimicking.]

1. To imitate or ape for sport; to ridicule by imitation.

   The walk, the words, the gesture, could supply, The habit mimic, and the mien belie.
   --Dryden.

2. (Biol.) To assume a resemblance to (some other organism of a totally different nature, or some surrounding object), as a means of protection or advantage.

   Syn: To ape; imitate; counterfeit; mock.

Mimic \Mim"ic\, Mimical \Mim"ic*al\, a. [L. mimicus, Gr. ?, fr. ? mime: cf. F. mimique. See Mime.]

1. Imitative; mimetic.

   Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes To imitate her.
   --Milton.

   Man is, of all creatures, the most mimical.
   --W. Wotton.

2. Consisting of, or formed by, imitation; imitated; as, mimic gestures. ``Mimic hootings.''
   --Wordsworth.

3. (Min.) Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; -- applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.

   Note: Mimic often implies something droll or ludicrous, and is less dignified than imitative.

   Mimic beetle (Zo["o]l.), a beetle that feigns death when disturbed, esp. the species of Hister and allied genera.

1580s, "a mime," from Latin mimicus, from Greek mimikos "of or pertaining to mimes," from mimos "mime."

1680s, from mimic (n.). Related: Mimicked; mimicking.

1590s, from Latin mimicus, from Greek mimikos "of or pertaining to mimes," verbal adjective from mimeisthai "to mimic, imitate, portray by means of imitation" (see mimeograph).

1. 1 Pertaining to mimicry; imitative. 2 mock, pretended. 3 (context mineralogy English) Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry. n. 1 A person who practices mimicry, or mime. 2 An imitation. v

2. To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.

1. v. imitate (a person, a manner, etc.), especially for satirical effect; "The actor mimicked the President very accurately" [syn: mime]

2. [also: mimicking, mimicked]

1. adj. constituting an imitation; "the mimic warfare of the opera stage"- Archibald Alison

2. [also: mimicking, mimicked]

1. n. someone who mimics (especially an actor or actress) [syn: mimicker]

2. [also: mimicking, mimicked]

Mimic (Calvin Montgomery Rankin) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was briefly a member of the X-Men in the 1960s, and was the first character to be added to the team after the original line-up and the first X-Man who was not a mutant.

An alternate reality version of Mimic became a popular member of the Exiles, the reality-hopping team.

A mimic is any living species that has evolved to resemble another successful species.

Mimic may also refer to:

• To mimic, the process of observing and replicating another's behavior, also called imitation

In entertainment:

• Mimic (comics), a character in the Marvel Comics universe
  • Mimic (Exiles), said character's alternate universe counterpart
• Mimic (Dungeons & Dragons), a creature in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game
• Mimic (film), a 1997 film
  • Mimic 2, film sequel
  • Mimic 3: Sentinel, film sequel
• Mimic, a synonym for impressionist (entertainment), a performer who imitates a person for amusing or satirical effect
• Mimic, a move in the Pokémon video games

In science and technology:

• Mimic ASCII, an ASCII art group
• MIMIC, a simulation computer language
• MIMIC (immunology) (Modular Immune in Vitro Construct), a tool used by immunologists involved in vaccine development
• MIMIC Simulator, SNMP simulation software from Gambit Communications, Inc.
• Mimic, common name for the Asian butterfly Hypolimnas misippus

Mimic is an American 1997 science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, and starring Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Charles S. Dutton and Giancarlo Giannini. It is based on a short story of the same name by Donald A. Wollheim.

Del Toro was unhappy with the film as released, especially because he did not succeed in obtaining a final cut of the film; however, his director's cut version was finally released in 2011. Mimic, whose U.S. theatrical gross was $25 million, was followed by two direct-to-video sequels, Mimic 2 (2001) and Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003), neither of them with del Toro involved.

It includes several examples of del Toro's most characteristic hallmarks. "I have a sort of a fetish for insects, clockwork, monsters, dark places, and unborn things," said del Toro, and this is evident in Mimic, where at times all are combined in long, brooding shots of dark, cluttered, muddy chaotic spaces. According to Alfonso Cuarón, del Toro's friend and colleague, "with Guillermo the shots are almost mathematical — everything is planned.”

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the mimic is a type of fictional monster. It is portrayed as being able to change its shape to disguise its body as an inanimate object, commonly a chest. The mimic has a powerful adhesive that holds fast to creatures who touch the creature, allowing the mimic to beat the creature with its powerful pseudopods. The mimic was introduced in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game's original Monster Manual. The mimic subsequently appeared in the game's second edition and third edition. Several variants of the creature have been introduced, with a variety of abilities and sizes.

MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, USA. It is an expression-oriented continuous block simulation language, but capable of incorporating blocks of FORTRAN-like algebra.

MIMIC is a further development from MIDAS (Modified Integration Digital Analog Simulator), which represented analog computer design. Written completely in FORTRAN but one routine in COMPASS, and ran on Control Data supercomputers, MIMIC is capable of solving much larger simulation models.

With MIMIC, ordinary differential equations describing mathematical models in several scientific disciplines as in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, economics and as well as in social sciences can easily be solved by numerical integration and the results of the analysis are listed or drawn in diagrams. It also enables the analysis of nonlinear dynamic conditions.

The MIMIC software package, written as FORTRAN overlay programs, executes input statements of the mathematical model in six consecutive passes. Simulation programs written in MIMIC are compiled rather than interpreted. The core of the simulation package is a variable step numerical integrator of fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Many useful functions related to electrical circuit elements exist besides some mathematical functions found in most scientific programming languages. There is no need to sort the statements in order of dependencies of the variables, since MIMIC does it internally.

Parts of the software organized in overlays are:

• MIMIN (input)– reads in user simulation program and data,
• MIMCO (compiler) – compiles the user program and creates an in-core array of instructions,
• MIMSO (sort)– sorts the instructions array after dependencies of variables,
• MIMAS (assembler) – converts the BCD instructions into machine-oriented code,
• MIMEX (execute)– executes the user program by integrating,
• MIMOUT (output)– puts out the data as a list or diagram of data.

MIMIC, or modular immune in vitro construct, is an artificial system imitating the human immune system. It has applications in vaccine development.

White blood cells, specifically peripheral blood mononuclear cells including T cells and B cells, from human donars are placed in standard tubes containing specially designed tissue constructs made out of collagen, where they develop into small but functioning immune systems.Up to ninety-six individual tubes can be carried on a plate the size of a deck of cards, allowing scientists to use cells from almost a hundred different donors at once.

The MIMIC system replaces some steps in the vaccine development process that would otherwise be performed on animals and offers scientists better speed and flexibility than traditional methods. However, critics are concerned that MIMIC may be too simple for use as widespread as its developers hope.

The MIMIC system was developed by VaxDesign and became available for use in 2008.