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
If I were to charge a battery, I'd only look like a merry-andrew after all; men will not respect what is only laughable.
From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Charles James Lever
At present, by the ministration of Atimetus, her minion, and the merry-andrew Paris, she is framing a farce to fit for the stage.
From Roman Women by Alfred Brittain
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 Robert Huish
My very breath was arrested when I saw the merry-andrew you made of yourself.
From A Very Naughty Girl by L. T. Meade
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
