Caricatures By Anthony Geoffroy

The term is derived from the Italian caricare- to charge or load. An early definition occurs in the English doctor Thomas Browne's Christian Morals, published posthumously in 1716.
Expose not thy self by four-footed manners unto monstrous draughts, and Caricatura representations.
with the footnote — When Men's faces are drawn with resemblance to some other Animals, the Italians call it, to be drawn in Caricatura
Thus, the word "caricature" essentially means a "loaded portrait". According to caricature teacher Sam Viviano, the term refers only to depictions of real-life people, and not to cartoon fabrications of fictional characters, which do not possess objective sets of physiognomic features to draw upon for reference, or to anthropomorphic depictions of inanimate objects such as automobiles or coffee mugs. Legendary animator Walt Disney on the other hand, equated his animation to caricature, saying the hardest thing to do was find the caricature of an animal that worked best as a human-like character.