harlequin

• Wallace followed like a harlequin. —  Hunted and Harried
• The way in which Oliver Trench received the rude awakening might, in other circumstances, have raised a laugh, for he leaped up like a harlequin, with a glare of sudden amazement, and, plunging headlong away from the threatened danger, buried himself in the snow. —  The Crew of the Water Wagtail
• Coming to the surface immediately, she filled the house with a yell that almost choked the hearers, caused old Ravenshaw to heave the pemmican curry into the lap of Lambert, and induced Lambert himself to leap down-stairs to the rescue like a harlequin. —  The Red Man's Revenge A Tale of The Red River Flood
• We confess, that, as to what concerns invention and purity of language, Ariosto has eminently the advantage over Tasso; but majesty, pomp, numbers, and a style truly sublime, united to regularity of design, raise the latter so much above the other that no comparison can fairly exist The decision of Chapelain is not unjust; though I did not know that Ariosto's language was purer than Tasso's Dr. Cocchi, the great Italian critic, compared "Ariosto's poem to the richer kind of harlequin's habit, made up of pieces of the very best silk, and of the liveliest colours. —  Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
• What a difference between the little uncouth, ignorant, savage, tricked out like a harlequin, and now the tall, athletic, well-dressed youth, happy in his independence, and conscious, although not vain, of his acquirements! —  Jacob Faithful

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Word Family