harlequin

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A conventional buffoon of the commedia dell'arte, traditionally presented in a mask and parti-colored tights.
2. n. A clown; a buffoon.
3. adj. Having a pattern of brightly colored diamond shapes.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In early Italian and later in French comedy, the buffoon or clown, one of the regular character-types. He was noted for his gluttonous buffoonery, afterward modified by something of intriguing malice. On the modern stage he generally appears in pantomime as the lover of Columbine, masked, dressed in tight party-colored clothes covered with spangles, armed with a magic wand or wooden sword, and plays amusing tricks on the other performers.
2. n. Hence A buffoon in general; a fantastic fellow; a droll.
3. n. In entomology, the magpie-moth, Abraxas grossulariata.
4. n. The Oriental or noble opal. Synonyms See jester.
5. Party-colored; extremely or fantastically variegated in color: specifically applied in zoölogy to sundry animals.
6. Differing in color or decoration; fancifully varied, as a set of dishes. See harlequin service, below.
7. To play the droll; make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
8. To remove as if by a harlequin's trick; conjure away.

Wiktionary

1. n. a pantomime fool, typically dressed in checkered clothes
2. adj. brightly coloured, especially in a pattern like that of a harlequin clown's clothes
3. v. transitive To remove or conjure away, as if by a harlequin's trick.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy.
2. v. To play the droll; to make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
3. v. To remove or conjure away, as by a harlequin's trick.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)
2. v. variegate with spots or marks