clown

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

clown, n. [Cf. Icel. klunni a clumsy, boorish fellow, North Fries. klönne clown, dial. Sw. klunn log, Dan. klunt log, block, and E. clump, n.].

•  A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor.  Sir P. Sidney.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl.  [1913 Webster]

  "The clown, the child of nature, without guile."  [1913 Webster]
•  The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o'the sere."  [1913 Webster]

clown, v. i. 

 To act as a clown; -- with it.  [1913 Webster]
"Beshrew me, he clowns it properly indeed."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

clown, n. & v.
--n.
1 a comic entertainer, esp. in a pantomime or circus, usu. with traditional costume and make-up.
2 a silly, foolish, or playful person.
3 archaic a rustic.
--v.
1 intr. (often foll. by about, around) behave like a clown; act foolishly or playfully.
2 tr. perform (a part, an action, etc.) like a clown.

Derivative

clownery n. clownish adj. clownishly adv. clownishness n.

Etymology

16th c.: perh. of LG orig.

THESAURUS

clown

Babbitt, Columbine, Hanswurst, Harlequin, Pantalone, Pantaloon, Philistine, Polichinelle, Pulcinella, Punch, Punchinello, Scaramouch, acrobat, aerialist, apple knocker, arriviste, ass, banana, bareback rider, be foolish, be stupid, blockhead, blunderer, blunderhead, boor, born fool, botcher, bounder, bourgeois, bucolic, buffo, buffoon, bumbler, bumpkin, bungler, burlesquer, cad, caper, caricaturist, churl, circus artist, clod, clodhopper, clodknocker, clot, clown around, comedian, comic, country bumpkin, cut up, cutup, dolt, doodle, egregious ass, epicier, epigrammatist, equestrian director, equilibrist, farceur, farmer, figure of fun, flier, fool, fool around, frivol, fumbler, funnyman, gag writer, gagman, gagster, galoot, gawk, get funny, go haywire, gowk, groundling, guttersnipe, harlequin, hayseed, hick, high-wire artist, hillbilly, hooligan, horse around, humorist, ignoramus, ill-bred fellow, invite ridicule, ironist, jack-pudding, jackass, jerk, jester, joker, jokesmith, jokester, juggler, klutz, lampooner, lion tamer, looby, lout, low fellow, lubber, lummox, lunatic, madcap, merry-andrew, milksop, mime, mooncalf, motley, motley fool, mountebank, mucker, mummer, nouveau riche, oaf, ox, parodist, parvenu, peasant, perfect fool, pickle-herring, play the buffoon, play the fool, prankster, provincial, punner, punster, quipster, reparteeist, ribald, ringmaster, rough, roughneck, rowdy, rube, ruffian, rustic, satirist, schmuck, slack-rope artist, slouch, slubberer, snake charmer, softhead, sop, stupid ass, sword swallower, tightrope walker, tomfool, trapeze artist, trifle, tumbler, upstart, vulgarian, vulgarist, wag, wagwit, wisecracker, wit, witling, yahoo, yokel, zany

ROGET THESAURUS

clown

Humorist

N humorist, wag, wit, reparteeist, epigrammatist, punster, bel esprit, life of the party, wit-snapper, wit-cracker, wit- worm, joker, jester, Joe Miller, drole de corps, gaillard, spark, bon diable, practical joker, buffoon, farceur, merry-andrew, mime, tumbler, acrobat, mountebank, charlatan, posturemaster, harlequin, punch, pulcinella, scaramouch, clown, wearer of the cap and bells, wearer of the motley, motley fool, pantaloon, gypsy, jack-pudding, jack in the green, jack a dandy, wiseacre, wise guy, smartass, fool, zany, madcap, pickle-herring, witling, caricaturist, grimacier, persifleur.

Vulgarity

N vulgarity, vulgarism, barbarism, Vandalism, Gothicism, mauvis gout, bad taste, gaucherie, awkwardness, want of tact, ill-breeding, courseness, indecorum, misbehavior, lowness, homeliness, low life, mauvais ton, rusticity, boorishness, brutality, rowdyism, blackguardism, ribaldry, slang, bad joke, mauvais plaisanterie, gaudiness, tawdriness, false ornament, finery, frippery, trickery, tinsel, gewgaw, clinquant, baroque, rococo, rough diamond, tomboy, hoyden, cub, unlicked cub, clown, Goth, Vandal, Boeotian, snob, cad, gent, parvenu, frump, dowdy, slattern, in bad taste vulgar, unrefined, coarse, indecorous, ribald, gross, unseemly, unbeseeming, unpresentable, contra bonos mores, ungraceful, dowdy, slovenly, ungenteel, shabby genteel, low, common, hoi polloi, uncourtly, uncivil, ill bred, ill mannered, underbred, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unladylike, unfeminine, wild, wild as an unbacked colt, untutored, unschooled (ignorant), unkempt, uncombed, untamed, unlicked, unpolished, uncouth, plebeian, incondite, heavy, rude, awkward, homely, homespun, home bred, provincial, countrified, rustic, boorish, clownish, savage, brutish, blackguard, rowdy, snobbish, barbarous, barbaric, Gothic, unclassical, doggerel, heathenish, tramontane, outlandish, uncultivated, Bohemian, obsolete, unfashionable, newfangled, odd, particular, affected, meretricious, extravagant, monstrous, horrid, shocking, gaudy, tawdry, overornamented, baroque, rococo, bedizened, tricked out, gingerbread, obtrusive.

Commonalty

N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.