jonglery

English

Etymology

From jongleur +‎ -ery. Compare French jonglerie (“juggling”).

Noun

jonglery (uncountable)

1. (historical) The practice or performance of a jongleur ("an itinerant entertainer in medieval England and France").
   • 1841, “Chapters on English Poetry”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 8, page 309:

     The shows at Tourney, or Saints' Day, were made to charm the eye and ear; and the minstrel found it necessary to unit mimicry and jonglery with his rhymes, to command attention.

   • 1896, William Morris, The Well at the World's End, The Kelmscott Press:

     'It will not be for the worst then,' quoth I. 'So now go wake up thy lion, and lead him away to his den: and we will presently send him this carrion for a reward of his jonglery.'

   • 1959, Charles Francis Bowen, Lost Virgin: A Novel, B. Humphries, page 231:

     "Why, Little Father! You are urging these good Christians to practise jonglery — like Nomgantz!" The priest laughed, too.

   • 2022, Jan M. Ziolkowski, Reading the Juggler of Notre Dame, Open Book Publishers, →ISBN:

     Norman replies, "Lord father, by godfather and godmother, who answered for me in baptism to the clergyman, named me Perron; afterward people called me by the surname Norman, and I was born in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, and as a poor minstrel I support myself from jonglery."

References

• “jonglery”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “jonglery”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.