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  1. mountebank love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks.
  2. n. A flamboyant charlatan.
  3. v. To act as a mountebank.
  4. v. Archaic To ensnare or prevail over with trickery.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A peripatetic quack; one who prescribes and sells nostrums at fairs and similar gatherings.
  2. n. Hence Any impudent and unscrupulous pretender; a charlatan.
  3. n. The short-tailed African kite, Helotarsus ecaudatus: so called from its aërial tumbling. Synonyms Empiric, etc. See quack, n.
  4. Pertaining to or consisting of mountebanks; sham; quack: as, a mountebank doctor.
  5. Produced by quackery or jugglery.
  6. To cheat by unscrupulous and impudent arts; gull.
  7. To introduce or insinuate by delusive arts or pretensions.
  8. To play the mountebank: with indefinite it.

Wiktionary

  1. n. One who sells dubious medicines.
  2. n. One who sells by deception; a con artist; a charlatan.
  3. v. intransitive To act as a mountebank.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. One who mounts a bench or stage in the market or other public place, boasts of his skill in curing diseases, and vends medicines which he pretends are infallible remedies; a quack doctor.
  2. n. Any boastful or false pretender; a charlatan; a quack.
  3. v. rare To cheat by boasting and false pretenses; to gull.
  4. v. To play the mountebank.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes

Etymologies

  1. From Italian montambanco ("quack who mounts a bench to hawk his wares") contracted from Italian monta-in-banco ("mount on bench"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Italian montambanco, from the phrase monta im banco, one gets up onto the bench : monta, one gets up, third person sing. present tense of montare, to get up (from Vulgar Latin *montāre; see mount1) + in, on, onto (from Latin; see in-2) + banco, bench (variant of banca, from Old Italian, bench, table, from Old High German bank). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “In those days, pundit would have more likely been a synonym for 'mountebank', a delicious word, which has disappeared from usage.”

    Journalmalists and the Hemingway Panic

  • “He spoke the word "mountebank" sneeringly, and John flushed.”

    John of the Woods

  • “He went instantly to the prison, descended to the cell of the "mountebank," called him by name, took him by the hand, and spoke to him.”

    Les Miserables, Volume I, Fantine

  • “Ivan, for it was he who started the "mountebank" bear, that came near mounting him on the moment of their meeting it.”

    Bruin The Grand Bear Hunt

  • “mountebank," as he named the man who had put his nose out of joint.”

    Beverly of Graustark

  • “mountebank" performance as they called it, -- had been everything to them that was sacred in its devout simplicity.”

    The Treasure of Heaven A Romance of Riches

  • “mountebank," called him by name, took him by the hand, and spoke to him.”

    Les Misérables

  • “One can then be any kind of mountebank or robber, and yet rest assured of the ladies 'homage. ”

    The Sins of Séverac Bablon

  • “In the late sixteenth century, English borrowed this word, now spelled mountebank, to refer to those roaming charlatans who would step onto a box or bench to attract the attention of potential buyers of such dubious offerings as “snake oil” medicine.1”

    Simon & Schuster: The English Is Coming!

  • “The moment when we discover whether Mr. David Cameron is a politician of genuine principle and valour or simply a gutless mountebank may be fast approaching.”

    Do Something Popular, Mr. Cameron!

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synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. charlatan
  1. quack
  1. gull

hypernyms (6)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. cheat
  1. beguiler
  1. deceiver
  1. trickster
  1. slicker
  1. cheater

hyponyms (3)

Words that are more specific

  1. quack
  1. phrenologist
  1. craniologist

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. charlatan
  2. impostor
  3. showman
  4. fortuneteller
  1. hypocrite
  2. quack
  3. jackstraw
  4. forger
  1. schemer
  2. imposter
  3. juggler
  4. trickster
  1. shaver
  2. demagogue
  3. sciolist
  4. deceiver
  1. conjurer
  2. whippersnapper
  3. illusionist
  4. pretender
  1. piper
  2. fakir
  3. cad

reverse dictionary (18)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. quack
  2. bank
  3. charlatan
  1. mountebankery
  2. mountebankish
  3. saltimbanco
  1. jongleur
  2. mountebank
  3. merry-andrew
  1. mountebankism
  2. quacksalver
  3. circulator
  1. empiric
  2. stage
  3. toadeater
  1. tumble
  2. tumbler
  3. zany

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Comments

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  • thtownse There was an early silent comedian called Monty Banks. Jan 28, 2010

  • bilby "CORIOLANUS: Pray, be content:
    Mother, I am going to the market-place;
    Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,
    Cog their hearts from them, and come home belov'd
    Of all the trades in Rome."
    - William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'. Aug 28, 2009

  • seaghost Sweeney Todd: "And furthermore, "Signor", I have serviced no kings, yet I wager that I can shave a cheek with ten times more dexterity than any street mountebank." Aug 4, 2008

  • sionnach See also mountie bank. Jan 22, 2008

  • uselessness I have to say, that is my favorite SNL moment of all time. Jan 22, 2008

  • gooseontheloose Alex Trebek: That's beautiful. And finally, Sean Connery's also here let's move on to Double Jeopardy where the categories -

    Sean Connery: Not so fast Trebek.

    Alex Trebek: I really thought that was going to work.

    Sean Connery: Well, you were wrong, you mountebank. I pose a conundrum to ya, I riddle if you will

    Alex Trebek: I don't want to hear it.

    Sean Connery: What's the difference between you and a mallard with a cold? One's a sick duck and I can't remember how it ends, but your mother's a whore. Laughs
    Jan 22, 2008

  • sera
    charlatan

    "A flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes"

    A mountebank practices unsubstantiated medicine as an alchemist practices unsubstantiated science Aug 13, 2007

  • m8eyboy I found it on P18 of William Bonner's and Addison Wiggin's "Financial Reckoning Day":

    A certain level of madness is often an advantage in the business and entertainment world, but this was too extreme for that. Purging the planet of ignorance? Only a buffoon or mountebank would say such a foolish thing. Saylor was clearly one or the other--maybe both.
    May 11, 2007

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‘mountebank’ has been looked up 3912 times, loved by 12 people, added to 75 lists, commented on 8 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.