beclown

beclown

English

Etymology

be- +‎ clown

Verb

beclown (third-person singular simple present beclowns, present participle beclowning, simple past and past participle beclowned)

1. To make a fool of.
   • 1972, J. Mitchell Morse, The Irrelevant English Teacher, Temple University Press (1972), →ISBN, page 82:

     To the extent that the demand for Black English comes from people with this attitude it is not a serious demand, and to answer their arguments would be to play their game and beclown onself.^[sic]

   • 2001, Donald Theall, Virtual Marshall McLuhan, McGill-Queen's University Press (2001), →ISBN, page 106:

     In 1971, when I discussed his work in terms of this complex Renaissance understanding of folly, well documented in his own work and quite consistent with the traditions of the learned satire that he was trying to compose, he suggested that I had "beclowned" him, […]

   • 2007, James Wolcott, "The YouTube Election", Vanity Fair, June 2007:

     Even Democratic hopeful Joe Biden, whose mouth churns up huge yardage every time he answers a question the long way around, hasn't "beclowned" himself, to borrow a word much beloved in the conservative blogosphere.