jongleur

[jong-gler; French zhawn-glœr]

See more synonyms for jongleur on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural jon·gleurs

[jong-glerz; French zhawn-glœr] /ˈdʒɒŋ glərz; French ʒɔ̃ˈglœr/.

(in medieval France and Norman England) an itinerant minstrel or entertainer who sang songs, often of his own composition, and told stories.

Origin of jongleur

1755–65; < French; Middle French jougleur (perhaps by misreading, ou being read on), Old French jogleor < Latin joculātor joker, equivalent to joculā(rī) to joke + -tor -tor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for jongleur

minstrel, songwriter, crooner, troubadour, artist, musician, bard, poet, songster, jongleur, balladeer, accompanist, vocalist, singer, show, player, performance, harper, minnesinger, serenader

Examples from the Web for jongleur

Historical Examples of jongleur

And is not all this what every dissour and jongleur tells us of in his stories of Merlin?
The Last Of The Barons, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Their name, "jongleur," like "charity," covers a multitude of sins.
Life on a Mediaeval Barony
William Stearns Davis
Far, far away in some distant steading, the jongleur heard the crowing of a cock.
The Serf
Guy Thorne
A jongleur was a singer who was not a poet, though he might make songs.
Masters of the Guild
L. Lamprey
The troubadour, minstrel and jongleur or joglar, were not the same in dignity.
Masters of the Guild
L. Lamprey

British Dictionary definitions for jongleur

jongleur

noun

(in medieval France) an itinerant minstrel

Word Origin for jongleur

C18: from Old French jogleour, from Latin joculātor joker, jester; see juggle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jongleur

"wandering minstrel," 1779, from Norman-French jongleur, variant of Old French jogleor, from Latin ioculator "jester, joker" (see juggler). Revived in a technical sense by modern writers.