Merry Andrew

9.9

A person who acts silly to make people laugh

noun

Archaic

: bufón

The children loved the Merry Andrew who performed funny tricks at the circus.

Examples

You, Charles, are a Merry Andrew.

Fiction book (2001)
Who's the Merry Andrew now?!

Fiction book (2001)
At the birthday party, he was the Merry Andrew who made everyone laugh with his silly jokes.
During the festival, she dressed as a Merry Andrew, entertaining the crowd with her playful antics.

Synonyms

buffoon

vsMerry Andrew

Offensive

43 7.4

A person who acts in a silly way to make others laugh

is more controlled as a jocular performer rather than pure silliness

joker

vsMerry Andrew

35 2.4

A person who likes to tell jokes and make others laugh

focuses on amusing others as a comic entertainer rather than casual joking

jester

vsMerry Andrew

23 7.4

A person who entertains a king or queen with jokes and tricks

is a general comic entertainer not limited to a court setting

practical joker

vsMerry Andrew

4 3.9

A person who plays funny tricks on other people

leans toward tricking people rather than acting as a jocular entertainer

joker of the group

vsMerry Andrew

3.1

A person in a group who often makes others laugh with funny stories or actions

is used for a wider performing role beyond informal group humor

Surface Forms

Merry Andrew singular

Merry Andrews plural

Morphology

merry + Andrew

The sense 'a clown or buffoon' cannot be derived from 'merry' (joyful) plus the proper name 'Andrew' — the proper name contributes no semantic cue to a clownish role. This is an idiomatic, historical nickname whose meaning must be learned rather than predicted from its parts, so a B1 learner knowing the constituents would not reliably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Merry Andrew may come from old street shows where a helper called Andrew would dance and make jokes to bring a crowd. So, Merry Andrew means 'a clown' or someone who acts like a fool to amuse people.