josh

plural joshes

1. An instance of good-natured banter.

present singular third person joshes · participle present joshing · participle past joshed · past joshed

1. transitiveTo tease someone in a kindly or friendly fashion.

   "My dear Polly. I welcome criticism, but this is mere——" Lady Wetherby stroked his coat sleeve fondly. "Never mind, Algie, I was only joshing you, precious.[…]"

   1915, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Uneasy Money, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, published 17 March 1916, →OCLC, page 171

2. intransitiveTo make or exchange good-natured jokes.

   We are old friends, did I not tell you? So I may, what you Americans call, josh with him.

   1902, Jack London, chapter XIV, in A Daughter of the Snows

   2 more examples

   “Cut that joshing out,” she said, coolly and briskly. “Who do you think you are talking to? Your check, please. Oh, Lordy!—”

   1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Girl and the Habit”, in Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC

   Boris, it seems, is taking it in this spirit, joshing beneath his ever-redeeming barnet that Labour's opposition to military action in Syria is a fey stance that he, as GQ politician of the year, would never be guilty of.

   2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards”, in The Guardian

1. A diminutive of the male given name Joshua.

   Senators Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren are teaming up on a bill that targets pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as the health care industry faces growing scrutiny following last week's shooting of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.

   2024 December 11, Andrew Stanton, “Senators Turn Screws on Health Care Industry as CEO Shooting Fuels Scrutiny”, in Newsweek

2. A city mentioned in the Book of Mormon.