waggery
Americannoun
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waggeries
plural
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the action, spirit, or language of a wag; roguish or droll humor.
the waggery of Shakespeare's clowns.
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a waggish act; jest or joke.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of waggery
Explanation
A state of being silly or mischiveous is waggery. Your extremely formal, old-fashioned teacher might bring the class's outbreak of giggles to an end by shouting, "Enough of that waggery!" Not too many people use the word waggery these days, but it's the perfect way to describe someone's jocular, playful — but slightly wicked — remarks or behavior. You can tell your impish little sister you're tired of her waggery or accuse your practical-joking uncle of waggery. The word, along with the adjective waggish, comes from wag, or "jokester."
Vocabulary lists containing waggery
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” has all the digital bells and whistles as well as much of the likable, self-aware waggery of the first.
From New York Times ● May 4, 2017
The New York Times' Manohla Dargis writes that "More is more and is, at times, just right in '22 Jump Street,' an exploding pinata of gags, pratfalls, winking asides, throwaway one-liners and self-reflexive waggery."
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2014
More is more and is, at times, just right in “22 Jump Street,” an exploding piñata of gags, pratfalls, winking asides, throwaway one-liners and self-reflexive waggery.
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2014
You won't like it if … Your ideal of musical comedy is prim, Kit and the Widow-style waggery.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 18, 2011
Happy was the wild boy, now roaming free about the world, where his feats of waggery never failed to secure him a good reception.
From Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
They enjoy him as he is: they examine one another in his books: they gossip on by the hour about his innumerable characters, his never-to-be-forgotten waggeries and fancies.
From Studies in Early Victorian Literature by Frederic Harrison
And then how dearly too did "mine host of the tavern," enter into their joviality, and aid them in those little waggeries they were so prone to engage in.
From William Shakespeare as he lived. An Historical Tale by Henry Curling
See what the critics say of your harmless jokes, neat little trim sentences, and pet waggeries!
From Roundabout Papers by William Makepeace Thackeray
Who does not know—at least by name—the Nisse, the being whose waggeries almost all bear the stamp of good-humoured frolic?
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847 by Various
Many great moralists have suffered from them: the gods are always up to such sardonic waggeries.
From Damn! A Book of Calumny by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
