CLOWN


Meaning of CLOWN in English

/ klaʊn; NAmE / noun , verb

■ noun

1.

an entertainer who wears funny clothes and a large red nose and does silly things to make people laugh :

( figurative )

Robert was always the class clown (= he did silly things to make the other students laugh) .

2.

( disapproving ) a person that you disapprove of because they act in a stupid way :

What do those clowns in the government think they are doing?

■ verb

[ v ] clown (around) (often disapproving ) to behave in a silly way, especially in order to make other people laugh

••

WORD ORIGIN

mid 16th cent. relating to an unsophisticated country person: perhaps of Low German origin.

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.