clownage

English

Etymology

From clown +‎ -age.

Noun

clownage (uncountable)

1. The antics of a clown.

   Synonyms: clownery, clownishness

   • 2020, Amo Jones, Kristy Bromberg, Make Me Yours:

     Their infamous act is the tricks they play with you, their clownage and stunts...

2. (obsolete) The behaviour or manners of a yokel or rustic.
   • a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Under-woods. Consisting of Divers Poems. (please specify the poem)”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:

     Honour and honesty, as poor things thought we / As they are made! pride and stiff clownage mixt / To make up greatness!

References

• “clownage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.