jest

plural jests

1. archaictypically uncountableAn act performed for amusement; a joke.

   I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious.

   1 more example

   Alas poore Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite Ieſt; […]

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 278, column 1

   Synonyms: prank, gag, laughingstock, banter, crack, wisecrack, witticism

2. archaicSomeone or something that is ridiculed; the target of a joke.

   Your majesty, stop him before he makes you the jest of the court.

   1 more example

   Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt, / I deſerue it[…]

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 58, column 2

3. obsoleteA deed; an action; a gest.

   the jests or actions of princes

   1540, Thomas Elyot, Image of Governance

4. obsoleteA mask; a pageant; an interlude.

   He promised us, in honour of our guest, / To grace our banquet with some pompous jest.

   c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for T[homas] Pauier, […], published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

present singular third person jests · participle present jesting · participle past jested · past jested

1. To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone.

   Surely you jest!

   Synonyms: banter, kid, mock, tease, joke

1. ShropshireSouthern USnot comparablepronunciation spellingAfrican-American VernacularPronunciation spelling of just.

   "Jest like the Injian puzzle-boxes, ain't they?" said Dan, as the one boat dropped into the other.

   1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   So I jest called out to know what was up, and found it was Miss Vanholte's cowboys, who had been forced into the store by them rascally ruffins.

   1890, Emma E. Hornibrook, Queen of the ranche; or, Life in the Far west, page 150

   ‘I hope es young Dick ’grees to take your ship out ag’in, Peter. But if he don’t, I reckon mebbe I told you a lie about that license o’ mine. I jest wanted to surprise him arter we got to sea, thet’s all. You don’t ’magine a feller es young Dick teached ’d fail, do you?’

   1930, Captain Dingle, “In Conclusion” (chapter 34), in Seaworthy, Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 274