“The modern child, not yet fully disenchanted, still living in a mysterious world, is able to enjoy the enchanting performance of the circus clown.”

“He resorts to being the class clown to cover up for his difficulties.”

“He has set himself up as the worst type of unprofessional clown playing the fool in public.”

“The clownery and pantaloonery of these pantomimes have clean passed out of my head.”

“It's pure clownery, making faces and funny sounds in the hope that somebody will laugh.”

“The waggery may be more or less refined, it may run the whole gamut from open clownery to a slightly ironical twinkle, but it is always there.”

“From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits, And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay.”

“It carries with it connotations both of simplicity and naturalness as well as ill-breeding and clownishness.”

“It's doubtful if either of the two gentlemen have the chops for such clownishness, although they both are reputed to have fierce tempers.”

“The figure and ground merge and transform into a garish clownishness you've never seen before, a space that is strange, familiar, and credible.”

“The classroom was chaotic, with students engaging in constant clowning and disrupting the lesson.”

“A facile, pop-psych explanation would unearth the roots of clownophobia in childhood traumas.”