What does "clown" mean?

Clown: One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl. The clown, the child of nature, without guile. Cowper.

Additional senses

  1. 2.The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc. The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o'the sere. Shak.
  2. 3.To act as a clown; -- with it [Obs.] Beclowns it properly indeed. B. Jonson.

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