I. clown 1 /klaʊn/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Perhaps from French coulon 'someone who settles in a new country' , from Latin colonus ; ⇨ ↑ colony ]
1 . someone who wears funny clothes, a red nose, bright ↑ make-up on their face etc, and does silly things to make people laugh, especially at a ↑ circus
2 . someone who often makes jokes or behaves in a funny way:
Frankie’s a bit of a clown.
class clown (=someone in a school class who behaves in a funny or silly way)
3 . a stupid or annoying person:
I can’t understand what she sees in that clown.
II. clown 2 BrE AmE ( also clown around/about ) verb [intransitive]
to behave in a silly or funny way:
Stop clowning around!