mountebank

[moun-tuh-bangk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mountebank ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who sells quack medicines, as from a platform in public places, attracting and influencing an audience by tricks, storytelling, etc.

any charlatan or quack.

verb (used without object)

to act or operate as a mountebank.

RELATED WORDS

cheat, swindler, grifter, imposter

Origin of mountebank

1570–80; (< Middle French) < Italian montimbanco one who climbs on a bench, equivalent to mont(are) to climb (see mount¹) + -im-, variant of in on + banco bench (see bank²)

Related formsmoun·te·bank·er·y

[moun-tuh-bangk-uh-ree] /ˈmaʊn təˌbæŋk ə ri/, noun

Synonyms for mountebank

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mountebank ON THESAURUS.COM

1. pitchman. 2. phony, pretender, fraud.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mountebank

He is a wonderful man, the most extraordinary I ever saw, but there is more of the mountebank than of greatness in all this.
The Greville Memoirs|Charles C. F. Greville
"So this going about as a mountebank is only a masquerade," she said, with a touch of scorn.
The Belovd Vagabond|William J. Locke
"It comes of your mountebank ways, of course," said the spear-wort.
The Pond|Carl Ewald
I feared the woman had no better thought than to make a mountebank of her child!
The Scarlet Letter|Nathaniel Hawthorne

About four of the afternoon, the mountebank rendered up his ghost; he had never been conscious since his seizure.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson|Robert Louis Stevenson

British Dictionary definitions for mountebank

mountebank

noun

(formerly) a person who sold quack medicines in public places

a charlatan; fake

verb

(intr) to play the mountebank

Derived Formsmountebankery, noun

Word Origin for mountebank

C16: from Italian montambanco a climber on a bench, from montare to mount ² + banco bench (see also bank 1)

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 mountebank

"a doctor that mounts a bench in the market, and boasts his infallible remedies and cures" [Johnson], 1570s, from Italian montambanco, contraction of monta in banco "quack, juggler," literally "mount on bench" (to be seen by crowd), from monta, imperative of montare "to mount" (see mount (v.)) + banco, variant of banca "bench" (see bank (n.2)). Figurative and extended senses from 1580s.