‖ marotte
(marɔt)
Also 7 marrot.
[Fr.]
1. A fool's bauble. † to crown with a marotte = F. coiffer d'une marotte, to make a fool of.
In the first quot. the explanation is meant derisively.
| 1611 R. Philips Panegyr. Verses in Coryat's Crudities c 7 b, Thee of the Marrot worthy doe we deeme. [Marg. i.e. Lawrell from Marrot a French Poet.] 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Laugh & be fat Wks. ii. 72/2 They crowne thee with a Marrot or a Mard. 1840 H. Ainsworth Tower Lond. ii. xiv, This last shaft likewise hit its mark, though Jane [the Fool] endeavoured to ward it off with her marotte. |
2. A pet notion, craze.
| 1852 Ld. Malmesbury Mem. (1884) I. 324 To be Emperor has been his [sc. Louis Napoleon's] marotte since he was twenty years old. |