Dictionary

Merry Andrew en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Originally associated with a specific act at Bartholomew Fair; later said to have come from the name of Andrew Boorde.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) A person who clowns publicly; a buffoon; an entertainer's assistant.
   • The games of the circus—the wild-beast fight and the gladiators, the rope-dancers, the merry-andrews, and the posture-masters,—were more to their taste than clever intrigue and brilliant dialogue. 1873, William Lucas Collins, chapter III, in Plautus and Terence, page 31:
   • Instead, therefore, of answering my landlady, the puppet-show man ran out to punish his Merry-Andrew [...] 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 438:
   • One of them, the eldest, was a sort of merry andrew and was not above dressing the part with a weird cap of jackal's skin with many hanging tails and tassels. 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 155:

Forms

wikipedia: Andrew Boorde · wikipedia: Bartholomew Fair