ape-bearer

noun

A person, usually a buffoon, who strolls or carries a monkey around for exhibition.

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Meanings

nounape-bearer (plural ape-bearers)

plural ape-bearers

  1. EarlyModernarchaicA person, usually a buffoon, who strolls or carries a monkey around for exhibition.

    Vices I would say (Sir.) I know this man well, he hath bene since an Ape-bearer, […]

    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 291, column 1
Cite this entry
APA

ape-bearer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ape-bearer

MLA

“ape-bearer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ape-bearer. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ape-bearer,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ape-bearer.

Source: ape-bearer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.