Synonyms

mountebank

[moun-tuh-bangk] Origin

moun·te·bank

[moun-tuh-bangk]
noun
1.
a person who sells quack medicines, as from a platform in public places, attracting and influencing an audience by tricks, storytelling, etc.
2.
any charlatan or quack.
verb (used without object)
3.
to act or operate as a mountebank.

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Mountebank is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

Origin:
1570–80; (< Middle French ) < Italian montimbanco one who climbs on a bench, equivalent to mont(are) to climb (see mount1) + -im-, variant of in on + banco bench (see bank2)

moun·te·bank·er·y [moun-tuh-bangk-uh-ree] , noun


1. pitchman. 2. phony, pretender, fraud.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
mountebank (ˈmaʊntɪˌbæŋk)
 
n
1.  (formerly) a person who sold quack medicines in public places
2.  a charlatan; fake
 
vb
3.  (intr) to play the mountebank
 
[C16: from Italian montambanco a climber on a bench, from montare to mount² + bancobench (see also bank1)]
 
mounte'bankery
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

mountebank
"a doctor that mounts a bench in the market, and boasts his infallible remedies and cures" [Johnson], 1577, from It. montambanco, contraction of monta in banco "quack, juggler," lit. "mount on bench" (to be seen by crowd), from monta, imperative of montare "to mount" + banco, var. of banca "bench."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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