jape
- to jest; joke; gibe.
- to mock or make fun of.
- a joke; jest; quip.
- a trick or practical joke.
Origin of jape
Examples from the Web for jape
Contemporary Examples of jape
It was clearly meant to be a sycophantic gesture, but the jape backfired like a blocked Victorian shotgun.
Historical Examples of jape
And when I say this, I do jape with words, and may hap ye understond me not.
Letters to Dead AuthorsAndrew Lang
I'm goin' to jape a bit with our friend, a' la 'Molly' Fairburn.
Stalky & Co.Rudyard Kipling
It made a new game for him, you see, amusing and rather flattering as well, the kind of a jape he was all too apt at.
Where the Pavement EndsJohn Russell
Mr. Mackie, passing with his orange partner, had repeated his jape about the Ruthless Boaz.
The Story of LouieOliver Onions
Then for a moment we fell to jape and jesting; foolishly, for the Gods are always listening, and the Desert-Gods have long ears.
The Leicestershires beyond BaghdadEdward John Thompson
jape
- a jest or joke
- to joke or jest (about)
Word Origin for jape
Word Origin and History for jape
late 14c., "to trick, beguile, jilt," perhaps from Old French japer "to howl, bawl, scream," of echoic origin, or from Old French gaber "to mock, deride." Phonetics suits the former, but sense the latter explanation. Took on a slang sense mid-15c. of "have sex with," and disappeared from polite usage. Revived in harmless Middle English sense of "say or do something in jest" by Scott, etc. Related: Japed; japing.
early 14c., "trick, deceit," later "a joke, a jest" (late 14c.); see jape (v.). By mid-14c. it meant "frivolous pastime," by 1400, "bawdiness."