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Webster's New World College Dictionary » mountebank
mountebank
mountebank definition
moun·te·bank (mo̵unt′ə baŋk′)
noun
- Archaic a person who mounted a bench, or platform, in a public place and sold quack medicines, usually attracting an audience by tricks, stories, etc.
- any charlatan, or quack
Etymology: It montambanco < montare, mount + in, on + banco, a bench: see bank
intransitive verb
to act as a mountebank
Related Forms:
- mountebankery moun′·te·bank′·ery noun
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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