Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Jest   /dʒɛst/   Listen
noun
Jest  n.  
1.
A deed; an action; a gest. (Obs.) "The jests or actions of princes."
2.
A mask; a pageant; an interlude. (Obs.) "He promised us, in honor of our guest, To grace our banquet with some pompous jest."
3.
Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under Jest, v. i. "I must be sad... smile at no man's jests." "The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts."
4.
The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock. "Then let me be your jest; I deserve it."
In jest, for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest. "And given in earnest what I begged in jest."
Jest book, a book containing a collection of jests, jokes, and amusing anecdotes; a Joe Miller.


verb
Jest  v. i.  (past & past part. jested; pres. part. jesting)  
1.
To take part in a merrymaking; especially, to act in a mask or interlude. (Obs.)
2.
To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything. "He jests at scars that never felt a wound."
Synonyms: To joke; sport; rally. To Jest, Joke. One jests in order to make others laugh; one jokes to please himself. A jest is usually at the expense of another, and is often ill-natured; a joke is a sportive sally designed to promote good humor without wounding the feelings of its object. "Jests are, therefore, seldom harmless; jokes frequently allowable. The most serious subject may be degraded by being turned into a jest."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Jest" Quotes from Famous Books



... shall we calmly rest, The Christian's scorn—the Heathen's mirth— Content to live the lingering jest And by-word of a mocking Earth? Shall our own glorious land retain That curse which Europe scorns to bear? Shall our own brethren drag the chain Which not even Russia's ...
— The Liberty Minstrel • George W. Clark
... and, with a serious air, pulling out his old gold watch, with a gold dial plate, gravely said to me, while he inwardly laughed—"Pray sir what is the time of the day by your watch,—let us see, do our watches agree, sir:" I blushed.—"Nay, said he, I do but jest with you my child—you must not be angry with me. Come, come; if you have not a gold watch, you shall have a silver seal to tie to your riband," saying which he brought me home and, taking one from the drawer of a black inkstand, gave it to me. What had a boy to fear that had three shillings ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol. I. No. 3. March 1810 • Various
... myself to find the blackguard and after some difficulty succeeded. I rescued the girl and restored her to her relations and then sent in a report of the incident to the Magistrate. A case for abduction was made out, and the English law does not jest on such matters. The Chinese declared that as his debtors could not pay him his due he had agreed, if the girl consented, to take her as his wife or servant, and so cancel their ...
— My Friends the Savages - Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) • Giovanni Battista Cerruti
... degrees I wearied of what had so delighted me at first, especially as I perceived more and more plainly that it is impossible to be constantly smart and amusing without being frequently ill-natured, and too apt to turn all things, even the most serious, into mere occasions for a brilliant jest.' ...
— The Green Fairy Book • Various
... bitterly at this jest. The hostility of Blair to the Tyler administration was a fact rather more than ...
— 54-40 or Fight • Emerson Hough


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com