Definition of: minstrel

(min′strəl) noun
1. Originally, in the Middle Ages, a retainer whose business it was to play musical instruments for the entertainment of his lord.
2. A wandering musician who composed and sang to the harp; one of a class of vagrant musicians and mountebanks, repressed by Henry IV.
3. A performer in a minstrel show.
4. Poetic A poet; singer; musician. See synonyms under POET. [<OF menestrel <LL ministerialis servant, jester <L minister attendant]