harlequinade

[ hahr-luh-kwi-neyd, -ki- ]

noun
  1. a pantomime, farce, or similar play in which Harlequin plays the principal part.

Origin of harlequinade

1
From the French word arlequinade, dating back to 1770–80. See harlequin, -ade1

Words Nearby harlequinade

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use harlequinade in a sentence

  • The curtain rises on a stage set for a harlequinade, a merry black and white interior.

  • One needs no civilised culture to appreciate the fun of the harlequinade, and to that has Charlie, with true instinct, returned.

  • But it is the harlequinade accelerated, intensified, toned up for the exacting taste of the great and growing "picture" public.

  • Punch still intermittently bewailed the decline of the harlequinade.

  • But—that such talent may not rust, I will place one by your side on whom you can practise your harlequinade follies at pleasure.

    Love and Intrigue | Friedrich Schiller

British Dictionary definitions for harlequinade

harlequinade

/ (ˌhɑːlɪkwɪˈneɪd) /


noun
  1. (sometimes capital) theatre a play or part of a pantomime in which harlequin has a leading role

  2. buffoonery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012