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carny

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: cárnÿ

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Alternative forms

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Noun

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carny (countable and uncountable, plural carnies)

  1. (informal, countable) A person who works in a carnival (often one who uses exaggerated showmanship or fraud).
    Synonym: showie (Australia)
    • 1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, →OCLC, page 276:
      The Reverend Foster, self-ordained—or directly ordained by God, depending on authority cited—had an instinct for the pulse of his times stronger than that of a skilled carnie sizing up a mark.
    • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
      Bart spies an opportunity to make a quick buck so he channels his inner carny and posits his sinking house as a natural wonder of the world and its inhabitants as freaks, barking to dazzled spectators, “Behold the horrors of the Slanty Shanty! See the twisted creatures that dwell within! Meet Cue-Ball, the man with no hair!”
  2. (uncountable) The jargon used by carnival workers.
  3. (informal, countable) A carnival.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Alternative forms

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Verb

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carny (third-person singular simple present carnies, present participle carnying, simple past and past participle carnied)

  1. (dialectal) To cajole, wheedle, or coax.
  2. (transitive) To lead.

References

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The Apostles did not only keepe wiues, but also carnied them about (1 Corintians 9:5).

  • Edward May (1580) The institutions of Christian religion, written by the reverend father, M. John Calvin, compendiously abridged by Edmond Bunnie Bachelor of divinity; and translated into English by Edward May, page 229

Noun

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carny

  1. (dialectal) Flattery.

References

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  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

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Lower Sorbian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Slavic *čьrnъ.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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carny

  1. black

Declension

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “carny”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
  • Starosta, Manfred (1999) “carny”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag