Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Varlet |
VarletNoun1. A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel. 2. In medieval times a youth acting as a knight's attendant as the first stage in training for knighthood. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "varlet" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1596. (references) |
Etymology: Varlet \Var"let\, noun. [Old French expression varlet, vaslet, vallet, servant, young man, young noble, dim of vassal. See Vassal, and compare to Valet.]. (references) |
Synonyms: VarletSynonyms: knave (n), page (n), rapscallion (n), rascal (n), rogue (n), scalawag (n), scallywag (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bad Man | Blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak; rapscallion, rascallion; cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole; cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel; lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond; rogue; (knave); ronian; scum of the earth, riffraff; Arcades ambo. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Varlet |
| Specialty definitions using "varlet": JESTER. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "varlet": valet. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Varlet serve me to what cheer ye have. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Thou lazy varlet! late again. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | JESTER, n. An officer formerly attached to a king's household, whose business it was to amuse the court by ludicrous actions and utterances, the absurdity being attested by his motley costume. The king himself being attired with dignity, it took the world some centuries to discover that his own conduct and decrees were sufficiently ridiculous for the amusement not only of his court but of all mankind. The jester was commonly called a fool, but the poets and romancers have ever delighted to represent him as a singularly wise and witty person. In the circus of to-day the melancholy ghost of the court fool effects the dejection of humbler audiences with the same jests wherewith in life he gloomed the marble hall, panged the patrician sense of humor and tapped the tank of royal tears. The widow-queen of Portugal Had an audacious jester Who entered the confessional Disguised, and there confessed her. "Father," she said, "thine ear bend down -- My sins are more than scarlet: I love my fool -- blaspheming clown, And common, base-born varlet." "Daughter," the mimic priest replied, "That sin, indeed, is awful: The church's pardon is denied To love that is unlawful. "But since thy stubborn heart will be For him forever pleading, Thou'dst better make him, by decree, A man of birth and breeding." She made the fool a duke, in hope With Heaven's taboo to palter; Then told a priest, who told the Pope, Who damned her from the altar! Barel Dort |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Varlet" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Varlet" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 2 | 245,945 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
varlet | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "varlet"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | غلام الفارس (page). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | слуга на рицар, щитоносец, мошеник (blackguard, cheat, crook, dead beat, deadbeat, dodger, grafter, gyp, hustler, jongleur, knave, palmer, picaroon, rogue, scoundrel, sham, shark, sharp, skin, trickster, wretch), паж (page). (various references) | |
Czech | pacholek. (various references) | |
German | Knappe (clipped speech, scarcely, squire). (various references) | |
Greek | παληάνθρωποσ (cad, villain). (various references) | |
Hebrew | בל (bastard, black sheep, bounder, mean, rascal, scoundrel, villain, wicked). (various references) | |
Hungarian | fickó (bozo, chappie, chappy, cuss, dog, fella, feller, fellow, gay dog, guy, kipper, rotter, sirrah, walla), apród (henchman, page). (various references) | |
Manx | screb (cicatrice, rapscallion, rascal, scoundrel), paitchey (bairn, bantling, brat, child, chit, kid, page). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arletvay.(various references) | |
Romanian | paj (boy in buttons, buttons, henchman, page, squire). (various references) | |
Russian | слуга (attendant, house-boy, man, manservant, retainer, servant, servitor, valet), плут (blackleg, crook, doer, juggler, no good, picaroon, rascal, rogue, slyboots). (various references) | |
Scottish | loguid (a varlet). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | skutonoša (train-bearer). (various references) | |
Spanish | truhán (rogue). (various references) | |
Turkish | uşak (body servant, do all, domestic help, factotum, flunkey, flunky, footman, helper, henchman, lackey, man, manservant, myrmidon, pursuivant, retainer, servant, servitor, valet, waiter), herif (blighter, bloke, bozo, bugger, Buster, cove, cuss, customer, Dick, dog, fellow, guy, Johnny, josser, mug, sod, stooge), çapkın (amorist, chaser, debauchee, dissolute, flirt, flirtatious, lecherous, lewd, libertine, licentious, lothario, profligate, rake, rakish, rascal, rip, rogue, roguish, roue, vagabond, villain, wolf, womanizer). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | слуга (ally, attendant, awaiter, boots, domestic, gyp, house-boy, man, menial, servant, vassal), негідник (blackguard, cad, caitiff, cullion, gallows, miscreant, niddering, pimp, rascal, reprobate, scoundrel, skunk, thief, wretch). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | đ" xỏ lá. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "varlet": varletries, varletry, varlets. (additional references) | |
| |
"Varlet" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Arlett, Jarlett, variet, varl, varlot, verle, verlet, vertel, virle, Vorlich. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "varlet" (pronounced 'Var"let'): Armlet, Ballet, Batlet, Beamlet, Bendlet, Birdlet, Bloodlet, Booklet, Bracelet, Bractlet, Branchlet, Brooklet, Budlet, Bullet, Camlet, Cantlet, Chainlet, Chamlet, Cloudlet, Corselet, Corslet, Couplet, Croslet, Cross-crosslet, Crownlet, Cutlet, Finlet, Flamelet, Fortlet, Frislet, Frondlet, frontlet, Giblet, Goblet, gullet, Hamlet, Haslet, Inlet, islet, kinglet, leaflet, Liplet, Lobelet, mallet, Martlet, millet, Mountlet, Murrelet, necklet, Notelet. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: travel. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-l-r-t-v" | |
-1 letter: alert, alter, artel, avert, later, laver, ratel, ravel, taler, trave, valet, velar. | |
-2 letters: aver, earl, late, lave, lear, leva, rale, rate, rave, real, tael, tale, tare, teal, tear, tela, vale, veal, vela, vera, vert. | |
-3 letters: ale, alt, are, art, ate, ave, ear, eat, era, eta, lar, lat, lav, lea, let, lev, rat, ret. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-l-r-t-v" | |
+1 letter: levator, travels, varlets, vaulter, ventral, vestral. | |
+2 letters: cervelat, elevator, interval, levanter, levators, levirate, livetrap, overlate, oversalt, overtalk, relative, relevant, tolarjev, traveled, traveler, travelog, trivalve, valerate, varietal, varletry, vaulters, vaultier, ventrals, vertical, vestural, violater. | |
+3 letters: avirulent, cervelats, elevators, evaluator, intervale, intervals, levanters, levatores, levirates, leviratic, livetraps, lucrative, overalert, overleapt, overplant, oversalts, overtalks, pretravel, prevalent, privately, ravelment, relatives, retrieval, revaluate, revelator, revictual, severalty, tervalent, travailed, travelers, traveling, travelled, traveller, travelogs, traversal, trivalent, trivalves, valerates, varietals, vectorial, ventrally, verbalist, verdantly, veritable, veritably, versatile, vertebral, verticals, vibratile, victualer, violaters, vulgarest. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
