From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishharlequinhar‧le‧quin1 /ˈhɑːlɪkwɪn $ ˈhɑːr-/ noun [countable] APTa character in some traditional plays who wears brightly coloured clothes and plays tricks
Examples from the Corpus
harlequin• Seated from left to right are a woman, a central harlequin and a man wearing a Cronstadt hat.• Her harlequin sweaters and Fair Isle striped knit shirts were a nice diversion from the usual cable knits and ribbed turtlenecks.• The harlequin is enamoured of a young dancer who has been forced to marry the proprietor of the troupe.• The harlequin on the easel looked as depressed as ever, and who could blame him?• Are you allowing yourselves to be fooled by this mountebank, this harlequin?• These shrimps are therefore an excellent choice for the aquarium while harlequins are not really worth considering.harlequinharlequin2 adjective [only before noun] CFa harlequin pattern is made up of diamond shapes in many different coloursExamples from the Corpus
harlequin• There was an easel with a half-finished painting of a man in harlequin drag playing the pipes of Pan.Origin harlequin (1500-1600) Italian arlecchino, from early French Helquin name of an evil spirit 