Punchinello
/ˌpʌn(t)ʃɪˈnɛləʊ
/noun (plural Punchinellos)
1 another name for punch4 (sense 1).One or two illustrated comic papers had already appeared in London, notably Gilbert Abbott à Beckett's Figaro in London and Punchinello, illustrated by Cruikshank....
- Highlight of Christie's drawings sale on the 6 July is one of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo's glorious pen, ink and wash drawings from the life of Punchinello series.
- Pulcinella, often called Punch or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the Commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry.
1.1 archaic A short, stout, comical-looking person.
Origin
Mid 17th century: alteration of Neapolitan dialect Polecenella, perhaps a diminutive of pollecena 'young turkey cock with a hooked beak', from pulcino 'chicken', from Latin pullus.