merry-andrew
merry-andrew is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.One whose business is to make sport for others; a buffoon; a zany; especially, one who attends a mountebank or quack doctor. Note: This term is said to have originated from one Andrew Borde, an English physician of the 16th century, who gained patients by facetious speeches to the multitude.
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- acrobat
- and
- bel
- bon
- buffoon
- cap
- caricaturist
- charlatan
- clown
- corps
- dandy
- epigrammatist
- esprit
- fool
- gaillard
- green
- guy
- gypsy
- harlequin
- humorist
- jack
- jester
- joker
- life
- madcap
- mime
- motley
- mountebank
- pantaloon
- party
- persifleur
- pickle-herring
- practical
- punch
- punster
- scaramouch
- spark
- the
- tumbler
- wag
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/merry-andrew
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