HARLEQUIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does harlequin mean? 

• HARLEQUIN (noun)
  The noun HARLEQUIN has 1 sense:

1. a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)

  Familiarity information: HARLEQUIN used as a noun is very rare.

• HARLEQUIN (verb)
  The verb HARLEQUIN has 1 sense:

1. variegate with spots or marks

  Familiarity information: HARLEQUIN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HARLEQUIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("harlequin" is a kind of...):

buffoon; clown; goof; goofball; merry andrew (a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior)

• HARLEQUIN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Variegate with spots or marks

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

His face was harlequined with patches

Hypernyms (to "harlequin" is one way to...):

cloud; dapple; mottle (colour with streaks or blotches of different shades)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

There are also piebald, speckle-streaked, or harlequin varieties.

(Dachshund, NCI Thesaurus)

The color of the coat indicates the variety: fawn, brindle, black, blue, mantle harlequin and sometimes Merle.

(Great Dane, NCI Thesaurus)

In mice down regulation of the AIF gene created harlequin mice with oxidative damage to neurons and increased neuronal cell death.

(AIF Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

And then you won't know me, sir; and I shall not be your Jane Eyre any longer, but an ape in a harlequin's jacket—a jay in borrowed plumes.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)