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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Jest

Jĕst, n.

noun

n. [O. Eng. jest and gest, deed, action, story, tale, a representation of a tale, pageant; hence gestour, jestour, a tale-teller, a retailer of gestes or romances. See GEST.]

Sense 1. A masking frolic; a masquerade; a pageant; an interlude. [Obs.] Nares.

He promised us, in honor of our guest. To grace our banquet with some pompous jest. Old Play.

Sense 2. Something done or said in order to amuse; something ludicrous uttered and meant only to excite laughter.

I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jest. Shak.

The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts. E. B. Sheridan.

Of all the griefs that harass the distressed, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest. Johnson.

Sense 3. The object of laughter or sport; a laughing-stock.

Then let me be your jest: I deserve it. Shak.

Sense 4. A deed; an action; a gest. [Obs.]

In jest, for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest.

And given in earnest what I begged in jest. Shak.

Synonyms—Joke; fun; burlesque; raillery; sport.

Jēst, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. JESTED; p. pr. & vb. n. JESTING.]

Sense 1. To play a part in a mask. Shak.

Sense 2. To make merriment by words or actions; to say any thing for amusement merely; to talk jokingly; to joke.

He jests at scars that never felt a wound. Shak.

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.” Crabb.

But those who aim at ridicule Should fix upon some certain rule, Which fairly hints they are in jest. Swift.

How fond are men of rule and place, Who court it from the mean and base! They love the cellar’s vulgar jest, And lose their hours in ale and smoke. Gray.