merry-andrew
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of merry-andrew
1665–75; merry + Andrew, generic use of the proper name
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Persons who naïvely mistake me for a merry-andrew with an inflated pig’s bladder can never understand that I adore whichever tradition I am striving to follow,” he said in a 1980 interview.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 30, 2014
This last mentioned person had been bred with an apothecary, and sometimes travelled the country in the high capacity of a quack doctor, at others, in the more humble station of a merry-andrew.
From Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences by Arthur L. Hayward
Dolce, our cook, the merry-andrew of the vessel, figured as a troubadour, in which capacity he sang several heart-thrilling melodies.
—The merry-andrew was here at my side, and I deemed it most prudent to drop a few sous into his cap, and effect my escape.
From Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 by Lt-Col. Pinkney
And I do hope, also, that you won't make yourself a merry-andrew or a figure of fun at the Weldons' to-night.
From The Rebel of the School by L. T. Meade
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
