jesting

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛstɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɛstɪŋ

Noun

jesting (countable and uncountable, plural jestings)

1. joking
   • 1599, “(please specify the chapter or poem)”, in The Passionate Pilgrime. […], 2nd edition, London: […] [Thomas Judson] for W[illiam] Iaggard, and are to be sold by W[illiam] Leake, […], →OCLC:

     Yet in the midst of all her pure protestings, / Her faith, her oaths, her tears and all were jestings.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 151:

     What an extraordinary mental delusion jesting is; that sort of laboured vivacity which fancies it is pointed when it is only personal; and more extraordinary still, it is always the resource of stupid people.

2. bantering; ridicule
3. mocking

Adjective

jesting (comparative more jesting, superlative most jesting)

1. facetious
2. humorous
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 15, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He will find that these are no jesting matters.

3. playful; mocking
4. jeering

Verb

jesting

1. present participle and gerund of jest

Related terms

• jesting-stock