Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A buffoon or jester formerly kept by kings, nobles, etc., for their amusement.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I was quickly surrounded by the singers, who chanted the most fulsome praise of the opulent Mongo, while a court-fool or buffoon insisted on leading my horse, and occasionally wiping my face with his filthy handkerchief!

    Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver Theodore Canot

  • To add to these misfortunes (perhaps the greatest of them in the opinion of the young Kaiser) the court-fool has tumbled downstairs and has broken his neck; so at least it is believed; but cats and fools have a way of falling on their feet, and this fool turns up again later.

    The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust'

  • Sommers, the vicomte's jester, afterward court-fool to Henry VIII.

    The Line of Love Dizain des Mariages James Branch Cabell 1918

  • This was not the way the bitter court-fool had been wont to speak.

    The Proud Prince 1898

  • Theron looked up and beheld to his surprise the missing court-fool

    The Proud Prince 1898

  • King Robert the Wise means to begin his reign by beheading his court-fool as an example to all other fools and courtiers.

    The Proud Prince 1898

  • "They say he swore a great oath his court-fool should be the first victim of your sword, and till the fool is found the victims wait on death."

    The Proud Prince 1898

  • In those days the court-fool was generally not a wit, but a naive blockhead, who believed all that was said, and was therefore a butt for jests.

    Historical Miniatures August Strindberg 1880

  • He was a dwarf and humpback; his name was Hamilcar, and he was Attila's court-fool.

    Historical Miniatures August Strindberg 1880

  • This man was court-fool to Henry VII., and is said to have been "of pleasant wit and bent to merrie devices."

    History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange 1873

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