merry-andrew

mer·ry-an·drew

(mĕr′ē-ăn′dro͞o)

A clown; a buffoon.

[merry + the name Andrew.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

merry-andrew

(Historical Terms) a joker, clown, or buffoon

[C17: original reference of Andrew unexplained]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mer′ry-an′drew

(-ˈæn dru)

n.

a clown; buffoon.

[1665–75; merry + Andrew, generic use of the proper name]

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References in classic literature ?

While they were talking, fate so willed it that one of the company in a mummers' dress with a great number of bells, and armed with three blown ox-bladders at the end of a stick, joined them, and this merry-andrew approaching Don Quixote, began flourishing his stick and banging the ground with the bladders and cutting capers with great jingling of the bells, which untoward apparition so startled Rocinante that, in spite of Don Quixote's efforts to hold him in, taking the bit between his teeth he set off across the plain with greater speed than the bones of his anatomy ever gave any promise of.

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The worthy fellow soon became the jester and merry-andrew of the boatswain's mess, where a berth had been kept for him.

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His habit was very proper for a merry-andrew, being a dirty calico, with hanging sleeves, tassels, and cuts and slashes almost on every side: it covered a taffety vest, so greasy as to testify that his honour must be a most exquisite sloven.