clowegilofret

and clove4.] A clove. clown (kloun), n. [Early mod. E. cloune (Levins, 1570, perhaps the earliest instance cited), [ME.: see clove- gillyflower By my soul, a swain! a most simple clown ! Shak ., L. L. L., iv. 1. As the husband is, the wife is: thou art mated with a clown , And the gro ne of his nature will have weight to drag Tennyson, Locksley Hall. thee down. 2. A husbandman; a peasant; a rustic. When Little John came, to gambols they went, Both gentlemen, yeomen, and clown . Robin Hood's Birth (Child's Ballads, V. 346). The clown , the child of nature without guile, Blest with an infant's ignorance of all But his own simple pleasures. Cowper , Task, iv. 623. 3. A profe ional or habitual jester; a merryman or buffoon, as in a pantomime, circus, or other place of entertainment, and formerly in the households of the great. The roynish clown , at whom so oft Shak., As you Like it, ii. 2 Your grace was wont to laugh. =Syn. See jester and zany . cloy