buffoonery
nounCA /bəˈfuːnəɹi/
Etymology From buffoon + -ery.
1
The behavior of a buffoon; foolishness, silliness.
- Araminta, come I'll talk ſeriouſly to you now, could you but ſee vvith my Eyes the buffoonry of one Scene of Addreſs, a Lover, ſet out with all his Equipage and Appurtenances; […]1693, Will[iam] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene [ii], page 14:
- [W]e ſet him [the Devil] up like a Scare-Crovv to fright Children and old VVomen, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, and in a VVord, carry on the lovv priz'd Buffoonry of the common People; […]1726, [Daniel Defoe], “Of the Manner of Satan’s Acting and Carrying on His Affairs in This World, and Particularly of His Ordinary Workings in the Dark, by Possession and Agitation”, in The Political History of the Devil, as well Ancient as Modern: […], London: […] T. Warner, […], →OCLC, part II (Of the Modern History of the Devil), page 222:
3 more examples
- […] One could not expect any body to take such a part—Nothing but buffoonery from beginning to end.1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 273:
- The Temperance Reform was too serious a matter for trifling jokes and buffooneries.before 1891: P.T. Barnum, quoted in The Life of Phineas T. Barnum http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1576
- Preamble is a hard-boiled steel commuter built for comfort, durability, and buffoonery on pavement and gravel.2025, “Pavement Bikes”, in Surly Bikes, retrieved 21 Feb 2025: