A male menial, also a juggler, buffoon, or entertainer. From Old French, "herlot," meaning vagabond, related to the Old Italian, "arletto;" (of uncertain origin). A prostitute.
"King Edwarde woulde say he had three concubines... the thirde the holyest harlot in the realme."
More in Richard Grafton, Chronicle (1543).
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