English

Alternative forms

• jack-pudding, Jack-pudding, jack pudding

Noun

Jack Pudding ‎(plural Jack Puddings)

1. A buffoon character appearing in stage and street performances.
   • 1680, "Trial of Lionel Anderson and Others for High Treason", in A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason (1816)

     [Lord Chief Justice:] It may be so, more know Jack Pudding, than Jack Pudding knows.

   • a. 1839, William Dunlap, A History of the American Theatre from Its Origins to 1832, page 310

     Aha! said I, here is the Jack Pudding. I see he has forgot his broomstick and gridiron; he'll compensate for these wants, I suppose, by his wit and humour

   • 1843, Peregrine Mango, "A Trip to the Tropics", in The Yale Literary Magazine, page 289

     One of them, the Jack Pudding of the company, mounted upon a pair of stilts that were strapped to his legs, and dressed most fantastically,

   • 1843, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Irish Sketchbook, in The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray (1869), page 246

     Then he brought forward Jack Pudding, and had a dialogue with him ; the jocularity of which,' by heavens ! made the heart ache to hear.

See also

• Hanswurst
• Harlequin
• Jean Potage
• Macaroni
• Pekelharing, Pickelharing