"Merry Andrew" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Originally associated with a specific act at Bartholomew Fair; later said to have come from the name of Andrew Boorde.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Merry Andrews",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merry andrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merry-andrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merryandrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Merry Andrew (plural Merry Andrews)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Comedy",
          "orig": "en:Comedy",
          "parents": [
            "Drama",
            "Theater",
            "Art",
            "Entertainment",
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 438:",
          "text": "Instead, therefore, of answering my landlady, the puppet-show man ran out to punish his Merry-Andrew [...]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1873, William Lucas Collins, chapter III, in Plautus and Terence, page 31:",
          "text": "The games of the circus—the wild-beast fight and the gladiators, the rope-dancers, the merry-andrews, and the posture-masters,—were more to their taste than clever intrigue and brilliant dialogue.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 155:",
          "text": "One of them, the eldest, was a sort of merry andrew and was not above dressing the part with a weird cap of jackal's skin with many hanging tails and tassels.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who clowns publicly; a buffoon; an entertainer's assistant."
      ],
      "id": "en-Merry_Andrew-en-noun-qzIMsHTP",
      "links": [
        [
          "clown",
          "clown"
        ],
        [
          "buffoon",
          "buffoon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A person who clowns publicly; a buffoon; an entertainer's assistant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Andrew Boorde",
        "Bartholomew Fair"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-Merry Andrew.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Merry Andrew"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Originally associated with a specific act at Bartholomew Fair; later said to have come from the name of Andrew Boorde.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Merry Andrews",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merry andrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merry-andrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "merryandrew",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Merry Andrew (plural Merry Andrews)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Comedy",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 438:",
          "text": "Instead, therefore, of answering my landlady, the puppet-show man ran out to punish his Merry-Andrew [...]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1873, William Lucas Collins, chapter III, in Plautus and Terence, page 31:",
          "text": "The games of the circus—the wild-beast fight and the gladiators, the rope-dancers, the merry-andrews, and the posture-masters,—were more to their taste than clever intrigue and brilliant dialogue.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 155:",
          "text": "One of them, the eldest, was a sort of merry andrew and was not above dressing the part with a weird cap of jackal's skin with many hanging tails and tassels.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who clowns publicly; a buffoon; an entertainer's assistant."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "clown",
          "clown"
        ],
        [
          "buffoon",
          "buffoon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A person who clowns publicly; a buffoon; an entertainer's assistant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Andrew Boorde",
        "Bartholomew Fair"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-Merry Andrew.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-Merry_Andrew.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Merry Andrew"
}