merry andrew

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Noun

merry andrew - a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior

buffoon, clown, goof, goofball

comedian, comic - a professional performer who tells jokes and performs comical acts

harlequin - a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)

jester, motley fool, fool - a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

whiteface - a clown whose face is covered with white make-up

zany - a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect

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She had indeed missed the wench from her employment, and, after a little search, had found her on the puppet-show stage in company with the Merry Andrew, and in a situation not very proper to be described.

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Here, it is true, were none of the appliances which popular merriment would so readily have found in the England of Elizabeth's time, or that of James -- no rude shows of a theatrical kind; no minstrel, with his harp and legendary ballad, nor gleeman with an ape dancing to his music; no juggler, with his tricks of mimic witchcraft; no Merry Andrew, to stir up the multitude with jests, perhaps a hundred years old, but still effective, by their appeals to the very broadest sources of mirthful sympathy.

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"Verily!" laughed Little John, "they must take us for a Merry Andrew show!"

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