mountebank

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: moun=te=bank

CIDE DICTIONARY

mountebank, n. [It. montimbanco, montambanco; montare to mount + in in, upon + banco bench. See Mount, and 4th Bank.].

•  One who mounts a bench or stage in the market or other public place, boasts of his skill in curing diseases, and vends medicines which he pretends are infallible remedies; a quack doctor.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such is the weakness and easy credulity of men, that a mountebank . . . is preferred before an able physician."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any boastful or false pretender; a charlatan; a quack.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nothing so impossible in nature but mountebanks will undertake."  [1913 Webster]

mountebank, v. t. 

 To cheat by boasting and false pretenses; to gull.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

mountebank, v. i. 

 To play the mountebank.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mountebank, n.
1 a swindler; a charlatan.
2 a clown.
3 hist. an itinerant quack appealing to an audience from a platform.

Derivative

mountebankery n.

Etymology

It. montambanco = monta in banco climb on bench: see MOUNT(1), BENCH

THESAURUS

mountebank

artist, artiste, belly dancer, blagueur, bluff, bluffer, burlesque queen, charlatan, cheat, chorine, chorus boy, chorus girl, con man, confidence man, conjurer, coryphee, dancer, dancing girl, defrauder, ecdysiast, entertainer, exotic dancer, fake, faker, female impersonator, flimflammer, fourflusher, fraud, geisha, geisha girl, guisard, guiser, gyp, hoofer, humbug, impersonator, impostor, magician, malingerer, mummer, musician, nautch girl, peeler, performer, phony, poser, poseur, prestidigitator, pretender, public entertainer, quack, quacksalver, quackster, ringer, saltimbanco, sham, shammer, sharper, show girl, singer, stripper, stripteaser, stripteuse, vaudevillian, vaudevillist

ROGET THESAURUS

mountebank

The Drama

N the drama, the stage, the theater, the play, film the film, movies, motion pictures, cinema, cinematography, theatricals, dramaturgy, histrionic art, buskin, sock, cothurnus, Melpomene and Thalia, Thespis, play, drama, stage play, piece, five-act play, tragedy, comedy, opera, vaudeville, comedietta, lever de rideau, interlude, afterpiece, exode, farce, divertissement, extravaganza, burletta, harlequinade, pantomime, burlesque, opera bouffe, ballet, spectacle, masque, drame comedie drame, melodrama, melodrame, comidie larmoyante, sensation drama, tragicomedy, farcical-comedy, monodrame monologue, duologue trilogy, charade, proverbs, mystery, miracle play, musical, musical comedy, western, horse opera, flick, spy film, love story, adventure film, documentary, nature film, pornographic film, smoker, skin flick, X-rated film, act, scene, tableau, induction, introduction, prologue, epilogue, libretto, performance, representation, mise en scene, stagery, jeu de theatre, acting, gesture, impersonation, stage business, gag, buffoonery, light comedy, genteel comedy, low comedy, theater, playhouse, opera house, house, music hall, amphitheater, circus, hippodrome, theater in the round, puppet show, fantoccini, marionettes, Punch and Judy, auditory, auditorium, front of the house, stalls, boxes, pit, gallery, parquet, greenroom, coulisses, flat, drop, drop scene, wing, screen, side scene, transformation scene, curtain, act drop, proscenium, stage, scene, scenery, the boards, trap, mezzanine floor, flies, floats, footlights, offstage, orchestra, theatrical costume, theatrical properties, movie studio, back lot, on location, part, role, character, dramatis personae, repertoire, actor, thespian, player, method actor, stage player, strolling player, stager, performer, mime, mimer, artists, comedian, tragedian, tragedienne, Roscius, star, movie star, star of stage and screen, superstar, idol, sex symbol, supporting actor, supporting cast, ham, hamfatter, masker, pantomimist, clown harlequin, buffo, buffoon, farceur, grimacer, pantaloon, columbine, punchinello, pulcinello, pulcinella, extra, bit- player, walk-on role, cameo appearance, mute, figurante, general utility, super, supernumerary, company, first tragedian, prima donna, protagonist, jeune premier, debutant, debutante, light comedian, genteel comedian, low comedian, walking gentleman, amoroso, heavy father, ingenue, jeune veuve, mummer, guiser, guisard, gysart, masque, mountebank, Jack Pudding, tumbler, posture master, acrobat, contortionist, ballet dancer, ballet girl, chorus singer, coryphee danseuse, property man, costumier, machinist, prompter, call boy, manager, director, stage manager, acting manager, producer, entrepreneur, impresario, backer, investor, angel, dramatic author, dramatic writer, play writer, playwright, dramatist, mimographer, dramatic, theatric, theatrical, scenic, histrionic, comic, tragic, buskined, farcical, tragicomic, melodramatic, operatic, stagy, on the stage, on the boards, on film, before the floats, before an audience, behind the scenes, fere totus mundus exercet histrionem, suit the action to the word, the word to the action, the play's the thing, to wake the soul by tender strokes of art.

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.

Deceiver

N deceiver &c (deceive), dissembler, hypocrite, sophist, Pharisee, Jesuit, Mawworm, Pecksniff, Joseph Surface, Tartufe, Janus, serpent, snake in the grass, cockatrice, Judas, wolf in sheep's clothing, jilt, shuffler, stool pigeon, liar &c (lie), story-teller, perjurer, false witness, menteur a triple etage, Scapin, bunko steerer, carpetbagger, capper, faker, fraud, four flusher, horse coper, ringer, spieler, straw bidder, imposter, pretender, soi-disant, humbug, adventurer, Cagliostro, Fernam Mendez Pinto, ass in lion's skin, actor, quack, charlatan, mountebank, saltimbanco, saltimbanque, empiric, quacksalver, medicaster, Rosicrucian, gypsy, man of straw, conjuror, juggler, trickster, prestidigitator, jockey, crimp, decoy, decoy duck, rogue, knave, cheat, swindler, jobber, saint abroad and a devil at home.