from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A conventional buffoon of the commedia dell'arte, traditionally presented in a mask and parti-colored tights.
- n. A clown; a buffoon.
- adj. Having a pattern of brightly colored diamond shapes.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. a pantomime fool, typically dressed in checkered clothes
- adj. brightly coloured, especially in a pattern like that of a harlequin clown's clothes
- v. To remove or conjure away, as if by a harlequin's trick.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy.
- intransitive v. To play the droll; to make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
- transitive v. To remove or conjure away, as by a harlequin's trick.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In early Italian and later in French comedy, the buffoon or clown, one of the regular character-types.
- n. Hence A buffoon in general; a fantastic fellow; a droll.
- n. In entomology, the magpie-moth, Abraxas grossulariata.
- n. The Oriental or noble opal.
- Party-colored; extremely or fantastically variegated in color: specifically applied in zoölogy to sundry animals.
- Differing in color or decoration; fancifully varied, as a set of dishes. See harlequin service, below.
- To play the droll; make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
- To remove as if by a harlequin's trick; conjure away.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)
- v. variegate with spots or marks
Obsolete French, from Old French Herlequin, Hellequin, a demon, perhaps from Middle English *Herleking, from Old English Herla cyning, King Herla, a mythical figure identified with Woden.(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
From Middle Dutch hellekijn ("little hell"), then in French hellequin and in Italian Arlecchino, the name of a popular servant character in commedia dell'arte plays from Old French *Harlequin, Halequin, Herlequin, Hellequin ("a demon, malevolent spirit") ultimately from Middle English Herleking, from Old English Herla Cyning ("King Herla"), a mythical figure identified with Woden. (Wiktionary)