mountebank
Use Mountebank in a sentence
təˌbæŋk 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To mountebank
00:10
Mountebank
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
mountebank (ˈmaʊntɪˌbæŋk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —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 | |
| mounte'bankery | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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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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Example sentences
Repeated hits earn a dealer a reputation for being a magus or a mountebank, depending on who's talking.
Dirksen's oratory became, in the end, something of a mountebank performance.
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