JESTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jester mean? 

• JESTER (noun)
  The noun JESTER has 1 sense:

1. a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

  Familiarity information: JESTER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JESTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fool; jester; motley fool

Hypernyms ("jester" is a kind of...):

buffoon; clown; goof; goofball; merry andrew (a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior)

Derivation:

jest (act in a funny or teasing way)

jest (tell a joke; speak humorously)

 Context examples 

My intimacy with Wolf Larsen increases—if by intimacy may be denoted those relations which exist between master and man, or, better yet, between king and jester.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It may be a dollar, she said, but it is a jester's dollar, the fee of a clown.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)