Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

billy barlow

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.32 in modern English

Syllables: bil-ly bar-low
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A clown who performs in the streets.

British usage; Obsolete

Example Sentences

"[…] for at an election meeting in East Maitland in 1845 William Lipscomb, the local wit, said of the squatters that 'so far from being wealthy, they had produced more Billy Barlows than any other class'."
"[…] as Jerry White notes in his history of London in the nineteenth century: There were the clowns or “Billy Barlows”; jugglers, some on stilts, and slack-rope walkers; […]"

Etymology

Named after a real Billy Barlow, who (according to Hotten; see reference) was a well-known street character around the East End of London, and died in Whitechapel Workhouse.

Usage

British usage
Obsolete

Inflected Forms

Billy Barlows (plural)

Questions

What does billy barlow mean?: A clown who performs in the streets.
Where does billy barlow come from?: Named after a real Billy Barlow, who (according to Hotten; see reference) was a well-known street character around the East End of London, and died in Whitechapel Workhouse.

How to pronounce billy barlow

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