Punchinello
Americannoun
plural
Punchinellos, Punchinelloes-
a grotesque or absurd chief character in a puppet show of Italian origin: the prototype of Punch.
-
any similarly grotesque or absurd person or thing.
noun
-
a type of clown from Italian burlesque or puppet shows, the prototype of Punch
-
(sometimes not capital) any grotesque or absurd character
Etymology
Origin of Punchinello
1660–70; < Italian (Naples dial.) polecenella character in the puppet show, diminutive of polecana turkey-cock chick < Late Latin pullicēnus, derivative of Latin pullus pullet
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.
The work features Punchinello, the hook-nosed, humpbacked clowns who were some of the stock characters taken from the Commedia dell' Arte - an early form of professional theatre.
From BBC
The great series of Punchinello drawings initiated by that gossamer-handed Venetian, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and vastly elaborated by his son Giovanni Domenico, was conceived as both a caprice and a social farce, one we can identity with today: a vision of a world run by venal clowns.
From New York Times
In profile she resembles a cute Punchinello, her cheeks expressive, painted, and the nose carved for comic effect.
From Literature
Bleasdale, who then worked as a part-time waitress at a local Italian restaurant, Punchinello's in Chorley, showed an immediate aptitude for "flinging myself across a bar on a stick".
From The Guardian
"I had to give up at Punchinello's but my sister still works there."
From The Guardian
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.
