Scaramouch
Americannoun
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a stock character in commedia dell'arte and farce who is a cowardly braggart, easily beaten and frightened.
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(lowercase) a rascal or scamp.
noun
Etymology
Origin of Scaramouch
First recorded in 1662; from French Scaramouche, from Italian Scaramuccia, proper noun use of scaramuccia “skirmish” (applied in jest); see origin at skirmish ( def. )
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.
This does not divert me; Nor nothing will, till Scaramouch return, And bring me News of Cinthio.
From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III by Montague Summers
The girls are, however, secretly assisted in their amours by Scaramouch, the doctor's man, who is himself a rival of Harlequin, Cinthio's valet, for the hand of Mopsophil, duenna to the young ladies.
From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III by Montague Summers
Our Scaramouch is one of the numerous forms of the Captain, which obtained great popularity at Paris.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Carlo Gozzi
Fiorelli, Tiberio of Naples, the famous Scaramouch, i.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Carlo Gozzi
Presently the curtain is drawn up and discovers where Scaramouch has 'plac'd them all in the Hanging in which they make the Figures, where they stand without Motion in Postures.'
From The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Joseph Addison
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.
