jest

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jest / jest/ • n. a thing said or done for amusement; a joke: there are jests about administrative gaffes | it was said in jest. ∎ archaic an object of derision: lowly virtue is the jest of fools.• v. [intr.] speak or act in a joking manner: you jest, surely? | [with direct speech] “I don't know about maturing,” jests William. ORIGIN: late Middle English: from earlier gest, from Old French geste, from Latin gesta ‘actions, exploits,’ from gerere ‘do.’ The original sense was ‘exploit, heroic deed,’ hence ‘a narrative of such deeds’ (originally in verse); later the term denoted an idle tale, hence a joke (mid 16th cent.).

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