Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement, especially an amusing story with a punch line.
  • noun A mischievous trick; a prank.
  • noun Something that is of ludicrously poor quality.
  • noun Something not to be taken seriously; a triviality.
  • noun An object of amusement or laughter; a laughingstock.
  • intransitive verb To tell or play jokes; jest.
  • intransitive verb To speak in fun; be facetious.
  • intransitive verb To say or write as a joke.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To jest; make merry about something.
  • To cast jokes at; make merry with; rally: as, to joke a man about his love-affairs.
  • noun Something said or done for the sake of exciting laughter; some witty or sportive remark or act; a jest; also, jesting; raillery.
  • noun Something not real, or to no purpose; what is not in earnest or actually meant; an illusion.
  • noun Synonyms See jest.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To do something for sport, or as a joke; to be merry in words or actions; to jest.
  • transitive verb To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally; to banter.
  • noun Something said for the sake of exciting a laugh; something witty or sportive (commonly indicating more of hilarity or humor than jest); a jest; a witticism.
  • noun Something not said seriously, or not actually meant; something done in sport.
  • noun in jest; sportively; not meant seriously.
  • noun See under Practical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An amusing story.
  • noun Something said or done for amusement.
  • noun figuratively The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one
  • noun figuratively A worthless thing or person.
  • verb intransitive To do or say something for humourous amusement rather than seriously.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a triviality not to be taken seriously
  • noun a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
  • noun a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
  • verb tell a joke; speak humorously
  • verb act in a funny or teasing way
  • noun activity characterized by good humor

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin iocus; see yek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

from Latin iocus

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Examples

Comments

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  • Heehee! That was a good 'un. So, did you hear the one about....?

    August 29, 2007

  • ...the corduroy pillowcases? They're making headlines all over town.

    August 29, 2007

  • ...AND the wait in the hallway outside the Lady's Room on the S.S. Loll 'n Crawl.

    August 29, 2007

  • "Every joke is a tiny revolution." George Orwell.

    January 26, 2008

  • That, S of G, is my new favorite quotation. I love it...and so true.

    January 26, 2008

  • Thanks Treeseed! I just heard it today on the radio in a piece about joke-telling in suppressive political regimes.

    January 26, 2008

  • What Treeseed said!

    January 27, 2008

  • The context makes it even better!

    January 27, 2008

  • This is a joke, right?...

    January 30, 2008

  • OK...Did you hear about the newlywed couple who didn't know the difference between vaseline and putty? All of their windows fell out.

    February 29, 2008

  • From this story on Yahoo News:

    "The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humor was as popular with the ancients as it is today.

    It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: 'Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.'"

    Those zany Sumerians! What a laff riot!

    August 1, 2008

  • Newly discovered Sumerian joke:

    Q: How many Akkadians does it take to light a lamp?

    A: None. The Akkadians, in their ignorance, pray to Enlil for deliverance from the curse of darkness.

    August 1, 2008

  • Those bastards!

    August 1, 2008

  • HA HA HA HA!!! Love it!

    August 1, 2008

  • Knock, knock...

    April 1, 2010