half-jocular

Sometimes he would notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so make it caper with extraordinary delight; sometimes he would ill-treat it, especially after he had been at the whiskey, kicking it, beating it, pelting it with stones or lighted fusees.

The Island of Doctor Moreau Herbert George 2006

There was some speculation at the dinner-table about the Time Traveller's absence, and I suggested time travelling, in a half-jocular spirit.

Science Fiction Hall of Fame Various, 1973

It was half-jocular, half-anxious, wholly inexplicable.

The Imperialist Sara Jeannette Duncan

They fairly burned into his own, and they checked the first half-jocular words of greeting which had been trembling upon his lips.

Then I'll Come Back to You Larry Evans

Elysee returned, bringing me kind words from the Mother house, and a half-jocular hint that Superior General Philippe had me much in his mind.

Stories by American Authors, Volume 6 Various

The occasion was one of good fellowship and good humour, and Page, under the inspiration of the occasion, indulged in a few half-serious, half-jocular references to the Panama Canal and British-American good-feeling, which, when inaccurately reported, caused a great disturbance in the England-baiting press.

The Life and Letters of Walter H Page Hendrick, Burton J 1922

Already, the half-jocular partnership undertaken at the outset of their acquaintance had developed into a real, if somewhat indeterminate connection.

The Clarion Samuel Hopkins Adams 1914

I was surprised to be greeted by Miss Tattersall with what had all the appearance of a discreetly covert wink, and I raised my eyebrows with that air of half-jocular inquiry which I fancied she would expect from me.

The Jervaise Comedy 1910

Sometimes he would notice it, pat it, call it half-mocking, half-jocular names, and so make it caper with extraordinary delight; sometimes he would ill-treat it, especially after he had been at the whiskey, kicking it, beating it, pelting it with stones or lighted fusees.

The Island of Doctor Moreau 1906

There was some speculation at the dinner-table about the Time Traveller's absence, and I suggested time travelling, in a half-jocular spirit.

The Time Machine 1906