Minstrel
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Originally, an entertainer employed to juggle, play music, sing, tell stories, etc.; a buffoon, a fool, a jester; later, a medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment. also, attributive, historical
"I forgette to tel you what a ſtirre he keepes againſt dumbe ministers, and neuer writes nor talkes of them, but hee calleth them minſtrels, […]"
- 2 a singer of folk songs wordnet
- 3 Any lyric poet, musician, or singer. also, attributive, broadly, poetic
"One flame-winged brought a white-winged harp-player / Even where my lady and I lay all alone; / Saying: "Behold, this minstrel is unknown; / Bid him depart, for I am minstrel here: / Only my strains are to Love's dear ones dear.""
- 4 a performer in a minstrel show wordnet
- 5 One of a troupe of entertainers, often a white person who wore black makeup (blackface), to present a so-called minstrel show, being a variety show of banjo music, dance, and song (now sometimes regarded as racist). US, also, attributive, broadly, historical
"After tea it was the entertainment. Songs and conjuring and a play called "Box and Cox," very amusing, and a lot of throwing things about in it—bacon and chops and things—and nigger minstrels. We clapped till our hands were sore."
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- 6 An amphetamine tablet, typically black, or black and white, in colour. also, attributive, broadly, slang
"These include dexamphetamine ( Dexedrine 'dexies ' or 'oranges'), methylamphetamine (Methedrine—'speed'), dexamphetamine combined with amylobarbitone (Drinamyl—'purple hearts' or 'blues'), amphetamine combined with dexamphetamine (Anorexine 12.5 mg - black and white minstrels' and Anorexine 20 mg—'black bombs'), phemetrazine (Preludin), diethylpropion (Tenuate), and methylphenidate (Ritalin)."
- 1 To play (a tune on a musical instrument); to sing (a song). also, attributive, figuratively, transitive
"Blest be the impulse which did urge me forth, / Minstrelling winds with music, which did melt / Into kind ears like softly opening showers, / To those who asked if beggar wanted bread."
- 2 celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels wordnet
- 3 To act as a minstrel; to entertain by playing a musical instrument, singing, etc. also, attributive, figuratively, intransitive
"Crown me, therefore,—and minstrelling near to thy fanes, Bacchus, thickly-adorned with rosy chaplets will I dance with a full-bosomed maid."
Example
More examples"The dining-room which opened out of the hall was a place of shadow and gloom. It was a long chamber with a step separating the daïs where the family sat from the lower portion reserved for their dependents. At one end a minstrel’s gallery overlooked it."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin ministerialis (“official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord, a ministerial or ministerialis”), from Latin ministerium (“employment, ministration; office of a minister, ministry; action or attendance by an inferior person such as a slave, service”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Ministerium is derived from minister (“accomplice; agent; aide; attendant; servant; waiter”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Doublet of ministerial and ministerialis. The verb is derived from the noun.
Related phrases
More for "minstrel"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.