▪ I. buffoon, n.
(bəˈfuːn)
Forms: 6–7 buffon(e, -onne, -oun, oone, bouffon, boufoon, 7– buffoon.
[a. F. buffon, bouffon, a. It. buffone buffoon, f. buffa a jest, connected with buffare to puff; Tommaseo and Bellini consider the sense of ‘jest’ to be developed from that of ‘puff of wind’, applied fig. to anything light and frivolous; others, e.g. Littré, refer it to the notion of puffing out the cheeks as a comic gesture. (In 17th c. accented on first syllable.)]
† 1. A pantomime dance. Sc. Obs. rare—1. [F. ‘danser les buffons to daunce a morris’ Cotgr.]
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 66 Braulis and branglis, buffons, vitht mony vthir lycht dancis. |
2. ‘A man whose profession is to make sport by low jests and antick postures’ (J.); a comic actor, clown; a jester, fool. arch.
| 1585 James I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 31 We remaine With Iuglers, buffons, and that foolish seames. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (1869) 76 Buffons, altogether applying their wits to Scurrillities and other ridiculous matters. 1657 S. Colvil Whigs' Supplic. (1681) 68 But how the Buffons all be outted. 1683 tr. Erasmus' Moriæ Enc. 2 Mountebanks, Buffoons, and Merry-Andrews. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 411 The bey..like other voluptuous Turks, had his buffoons to divert him. 1835 Lytton Rienzi i. i. 3 The stale jests of a hired buffoon. 1875 Farrar Seekers i. iii. 12. |
¶ Used for ‘buffoonery’.
| 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 153 Thy sabbaths will be soon Our sabbaths, closed with mummery and buffoon. |
3. transf. A low jester; ‘a man that practises indecent raillery’ (J.); a wag, a joker (implying contempt or disapprobation).
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man. in Hum. ii. v. 8 Age was authoritie Against a buffon, and a man had, then..reverence payd unto his yeares. 1636 Healey Epictetus' Man. 73 Avoid the playing of the Buffone, and procuring of others laughter. 1680 H. More Apocal. Apoc. Pref. 14 Buffoones rather, and abusers of the Apocalypse, than serious Interpreters of it. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 72 ¶8 Falstaff the cheerful companion, the loud buffoon. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Ranke's Hist. (1851) II. 147 Buffoons, dressed in copes and surplices. |
4. attrib. and adj. Belonging to or characteristic of a buffoon; vulgarly jocular. (Somewhat arch.)
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple News v. vi, With buffon licence, ieast At whatso'er is serious. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. i. 39 The buffoon Ape, as atheists use, Mimicked all sects. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 102 A jumble of buffoon tales. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 234 Egbert Hemskirk of Harlem, a buffoon painter. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 469 No mean images, buffoon stories, scurrilous invectives. |
5. Comb., as buffoon-like adj.; buffoon-bird.
| 1611 Cotgr., Bouffonnesque, buffoone-like. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. vi. iv. 180 The Numidian Crane..vulgarly called by our sailors the buffoon bird. |
Hence buffooˈnesque, buˈffoonical a.; = buffoonish; buˈffoonism = buffoonery.
| 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 254 That they should commit intellectual mendicity in buffoonesk terms. 1834 Beckford Italy, &c. II. 39 The strangest, most buffoonical grimaces. Ibid. 169 A lay-brother, fat, round, buffoonical. 1611 Cotgr., Bouffonnerie, bouffoonisme, ieasting. 1617 Minsheu Ductor in Ling. 56 Buffoonisme..vi: jesting. |
▪ II. buffoon, v. arch.
(bəˈfuːn)
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To turn into ridicule, to ridicule; to burlesque.
| 1638 Ford Fancies iii. i. (R.) Who, in the great dukes court, buffoons his compliment. a 1672 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 73 The Duke of Buckingham's..farce..buffooning all plays. 1751 J. Brown Shaftesb. Charac. 371 Buffooning and disgracing Christianity, from a false representation of its material part. 1836 Fraser's Mag. XIV. 16 Having Polonius buffooned for him, and, to no small extent, Hamlet himself. |
2. intr. To play the buffoon, to indulge in low jesting. Also to buffoon it.
| 1672 [see buffooning vbl. n.] 1820 Byron in Moore Life (1860) 434 Bankes and I..buffooned together very merrily. 1830 Fraser's Mag. II. 180 He..buffooned it up to the bent. 1832 L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 94 All dressed and talked and laughed and buffooned alike. |
▪ III. ˈbuffoon
corrupted form of buffon, Obs.