Brewer's: Turlupin

a punster or farceur, with turlupinade, and the verb turlupiner. It was usual in the 17th century for play-writers in Italy and France to change their names. Thus Le Grand called himself Belleville in tragedy, and Turlupin in farce; Hugues Guéret took the name of Fléchelles; and Jean Baptiste Poquelin called himself Moliere, but there was a Molière before him who wrote plays.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content