badinage

plural badinages

1. countableuncountablePlayful raillery; banter.

   [Talia:] You'll forgive me if I'm not in the mood for your usual badinage.

   1994, Lawrence G. DiTillio, “Spider in the Web”, in Babylon 5, 13m 19s

   5 more examples

   I am persuaded, if all gay badinage were prefaced by an explanation, it would be infinitely better received.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Different Opinions”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 282

   Your badinage so airy, / Your manner arbitrary, / Are out of place / When face to face / With an influential Fairy.

   1882, W. S. Gilbert, Iolanthe, act I

   "[…] God knows that if you were only safely married to Jacob I would not care how much you saw of Henri; but as you are not, I think these badinages are very ill-timed and take your mind off the principal business."

   1893, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, chapter XIII, in Linda Da Kowalewska, transl., The Jew, London: Heinemann, page 254

   […] take the word 'barnshoot'—a corruption of the Hindustani word bahinchut. A vile and unforgivable insult in India, this word is a piece of gentle badinage in England.

   1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC

   His [Monty Tipton’s] saucy badinage is often as clever as it is outrageous: I believe it is he who congratulatingly greets one aerobicized woman by saying, “Your posterior is so skinny, I mistook it for Jodie Foster’s chin!” or words to that effect.

   1996 March 22, Tim Appelo, “‘It’s My Party’ balances humor, AIDS”, in The Oregonian, Portland, Ore., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23, column 5

present singular third person badinages · participle present badinaging · participle past badinaged · past badinaged

1. To engage in badinage or playful banter.