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
What with the hum of human voices, the lowing of cattle, the squeaking of pigs, and the laughter caused by the merry-andrew, the marketplace was in very great confusion.
From Biographical Stories (From: "True Stories of History and Biography") by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
A merry-andrew at a country town in England, during the Whitsuntide holidays, never excited so great a stir as did the departure of the travellers from the town of Wow.
From Lander's Travels The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa by Huish, Robert
And after a few efforts to better her condition she grew cautious, and hesitated discreetly before returning one of those ingenuous answers which, in the beginning, had made her the merry-andrew of the class.
From The Getting of Wisdom by Richardson, Henry Handel
But this proves to be the note of Paillasse, a merry-andrew.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 347, December 20, 1828 by Various
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.
