JEST

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does jest mean? 

• JEST (noun)
  The noun JEST has 2 senses:

1. a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

2. activity characterized by good humor

  Familiarity information: JEST used as a noun is rare.

• JEST (verb)
  The verb JEST has 2 senses:

1. tell a joke; speak humorously

2. act in a funny or teasing way

  Familiarity information: JEST used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JEST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh

Context example:

even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point

Hypernyms ("jest" is a kind of...):

humor; humour; wit; witticism; wittiness (a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter)

Meronyms (parts of "jest"):

gag line; laugh line; punch line; tag line (the point of a joke or humorous story)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "jest"):

belly laugh; howler; riot; scream; sidesplitter; thigh-slapper; wow (a joke that seems extremely funny)

blue joke; blue story; dirty joke; dirty story (an indelicate joke)

ethnic joke (a joke at the expense of some ethnic group)

funny; funny remark; funny story; good story (an account of an amusing incident (usually with a punch line))

in-joke (a joke that is appreciated only by members of some particular group of people)

one-liner (a one-line joke)

shaggy dog story (a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness)

sick joke (a joke in bad taste)

sight gag; visual joke (a joke whose effect is achieved by visual means rather than by speech (as in a movie))

Derivation:

jest (act in a funny or teasing way)

jest (tell a joke; speak humorously)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Activity characterized by good humor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

jest; jocularity; joke

Hypernyms ("jest" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "jest"):

drollery; waggery (a quaint and amusing jest)

leg-pull; leg-pulling (as a joke: trying to make somebody believe something that is not true)

pleasantry (an agreeable or amusing remark)

Derivation:

jest (act in a funny or teasing way)

jest (tell a joke; speak humorously)

• JEST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they jest    ... he / she / it jests   
Past simple: jested   
Past participle: jested   
-ing form: jesting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tell a joke; speak humorously

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

jest; joke

Context example:

He often jokes even when he appears serious

Hypernyms (to "jest" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "jest"):

gag; quip (make jokes or quips)

arse around; fool; fool around; horse around (indulge in horseplay)

pun (make a play on words)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Also:

jest at (subject to laughter or ridicule)

Derivation:

jest (activity characterized by good humor)

jest (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

jester (a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act in a funny or teasing way

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

jest; joke

Hypernyms (to "jest" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "jest"):

antic; clown; clown around (act as or like a clown)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

jest (activity characterized by good humor)

jest (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

jester (a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages)

 Context examples 

“The ancient chain of the township of Lepe! This is but a sorry jest, Sir Nigel.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My love, said her mother, you must not be offended with Elinor—she was only in jest.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

This money, if you doen't see objections, Mas'r Davy, I shall put up jest afore I go, in a cover directed to him; and put that up in another, directed to his mother.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in his eyes as he looked at me.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It would be hideous to be always together; we should be the jest of the place.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He spoke now in a half-jesting fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not at all: they are full of jests and gaiety.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I felt that I must be the jest of the room at the time, and Miss Crawford, it is plain, has heard the story.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"Thank you, I will," he answered in jest, and a few months later he did it in earnest.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

When I told him of our friendship and how you trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.'

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)