buffoonery
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]buffoonery (countable and uncountable, plural buffooneries)
- The behaviour expected of a buffoon; foolishness, silliness.
- 1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 14:
- Araminta, come I'll talk ſeriouſly to you now, could you but ſee vvith my Eyes the buffoonry of one Scene of Addreſs, a Lover, ſet out with all his Equipage and Appurtenances; […]
- 1726, [Daniel Defoe], “Of the Manner of Satan’s Acting and Carrying on His Affairs in This World, and Particularly of His Ordinary Workings in the Dark, by Possession and Agitation”, in The Political History of the Devil, as well Ancient as Modern: […], London: […] T. Warner, […], →OCLC, part II (Of the Modern History of the Devil), page 222:
- [W]e ſet him [the Devil] up like a Scare-Crovv to fright Children and old VVomen, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, and in a VVord, carry on the lovv priz'd Buffoonry of the common People; […]
- 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 273:
- […] One could not expect any body to take such a part—Nothing but buffoonery from beginning to end.
- before 1891: P.T. Barnum, quoted in The Life of Phineas T. Barnum [1]
- The Temperance Reform was too serious a matter for trifling jokes and buffooneries.
Alternative forms
[edit]- buffoonry (archaic)
Translations
[edit]
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