clown

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A buffoon or jester who entertains by jokes, antics, and tricks in a circus, play, or other presentation.
2. n. One who jokes and plays tricks.
3. n. A coarse, rude, vulgar person; a boor.
4. n. A peasant; a rustic.
5. v. To behave like a buffoon or jester.
6. v. To perform as a buffoon or jester.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A man of rustic or coarse manners; a person without refinement; a lout; a boor; a churl.
2. n. A husbandman; a peasant; a rustic.
3. n. A professional or habitual jester; a merryman or buffoon, as in a pantomime, circus, or other place of entertainment, and formerly in the households of the great.
4. n. Synonyms See jester and zany.
5. To act or behave as a clown; play the clown.

Wiktionary

1. n. A performance artist often associated with a circus and typically characterised by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig and who performs slapstick.
2. n. A person who acts in a silly fashion.
3. v. To act in a silly fashion.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor.
2. n. One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl.
3. n. The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc.
4. v. obsolete To act as a clown; -- with it.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. act as or like a clown
2. n. a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
3. n. a rude or vulgar fool