standing joke
Something that is always funny even though it is often repeated. For example, Mary's “Dennis who?” when her husband is mentioned is a standing joke around here. This idiom employs standing in the sense of “established” or “regular,” a usage dating from the mid-1500s.
Words Nearby standing joke
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use standing joke in a sentence
There was in fact an "eternal fitness" in horse and man that was not exactly a "standing joke," but a peripatetic one.
Lincolniana | Andrew AdderupThen they raised a horse laugh, and the cost of that hatchet became a standing joke and a slur on my "business ability."
Woodcraft and Camping | George Washington Sears (Nessmuk)Grandmother Sanford's pension had come to be a standing joke.
Patty's Perversities | Arlo BatesHis complete ignorance of nautical matters became a standing joke.
Monk | Julian CorbettThe prowess of the British charioteers became a standing joke in Rome against the soldiers of Cæsar.
Old and New London | Walter Thornbury
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