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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A playful or amusing act; a prank. See Synonyms at joke.
  2. n. A frolicsome or frivolous mood: spoken in jest.
  3. n. An object of ridicule; a laughingstock.
  4. n. A witty remark.
  5. v. To act or speak playfully.
  6. v. To make witty remarks.
  7. v. To utter scoffs; gibe.
  8. v. To make fun of; ridicule.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. An act; deed; achievement; exploit; gest. See gest, n.
  2. n. A tale of achievement or adventure; a story; romance. See gest, n., 2.
  3. n. A mask; masquerade; pageant.
  4. n. A spoken pleasantry; a laughable or intentionally ludicrous saying; a witticism; a joke; a sally.
  5. n. An acted pleasantry; a, jocular or playful action; something done to make sport or cause laughter.
  6. n. The object of laughter, sport, or mockery; a laughing-stock.
  7. n. Synonyms Jest, Joke; quip, quirk, witticism, sally. A joke is often rougher or less delicate than a jest, as a practical joke, but jest often suggests more of lightness or scoffing than joke, as to turn everything into jest. Joke is the word to be used where action is implied; jest is generally applied to something said.
  8. To tell stories or romances. See gest, verb
  9. I can not geste, rum, raf, ruf, by letter
  10. To trifle (with); amuse or entertain by words or actions; treat as trifling.
  11. To say or do something intended to amuse or cause laughter.
  12. To take part in a mask or sport; engage in mock combat; just.
  13. To utter in jest or sport.
  14. To apply a jest to; joke with; banter; rally.
  15. A common dialectal form of just.

Wiktionary

  1. n. An act performed for amusement; a joke.
  2. n. Someone or something that is ridiculed; the target of a joke.
  3. v. To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A deed; an action; a gest.
  2. n. A mask; a pageant; an interlude.
  3. n. Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under Jest, v. i.
  4. n. The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock.
  5. v. To take part in a merrymaking; -- especially, to act in a mask or interlude.
  6. v. To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
  2. v. act in a funny or teasing way
  3. v. tell a joke; speak humorously
  4. n. activity characterized by good humor

Etymologies

  1. Middle English geste, tale, from Old French, from Latin gesta, deeds, from neuter pl. past participle of gerere, to perform.

Examples

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‘jest’ has been looked up 3419 times, loved by 2 people, added to 35 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 11.