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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!

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘mountebank’.

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.