(n.) Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under Jest, v. i.
(v. i.) The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock.
(v. i.) To take part in a merrymaking; -- especially, to act in a mask or interlude.
(v. i.) To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything.
Example Sentences:
(1) Dawn Powell: A Time to Be Born (1942) Joseph Heller: Catch-22 (1961) Kurt Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions (1973) David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest (1996) The American comedy, generally speaking, is a scatological thing, or a repository of racial prejudice or gender stereotypes.
(2) Defining what constitutes merely a jest and what is of a "menacing character" has not been easy for the judges.
(3) In Hall’s farewell season of Shakespeare’s late romances in 1988, he led the company alongside Michael Bryant and Eileen Atkins , playing a clenched and possessed Leontes in The Winter’s Tale; an Italianate, jesting Iachimo in Cymbeline; and a gloriously drunken Trinculo in The Tempest (he played Prospero for Adrian Noble at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 2012).
(4) The 2010 book was written by Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky, and is what it says on the tin: an account of a road trip with the author as he went across the US promoting his 1,100-page novel Infinite Jest, recalling the conversations the pair have and the fame that Foster Wallace is starting to experience.
(5) From Glasgow, Leeds , Bristol and Dublin , to New York , San Diego and Vancouver , to Perth , Melbourne and Sydney , groups of non-believers will be getting together to form their own monthly Sunday Assemblies, with the movement's founders – the standup comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans – visiting the fledgling congregations in what they are calling, only partly in jest, a "global missionary tour".
(6) I did not say so, thank God, even in jest, otherwise our encounter could have been even worse than it was.
(7) "That was totally in jest," he added, saying he would "tone down my sense of humour until I become president, because America needs to get a sense of humour".
(8) Green's husband Wallace, best known for the novel Infinite Jest, committed suicide at home in 2008 , and was found by Green.
(9) "F alsehood flies," wrote Jonathan Swift 300 years ago, "and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect."
(10) ‘What is truth?” said jesting Pilate – in Bacon’s famous phrase.
(11) It was a jibe made in jest by a man who had much fondness for him.
(12) In comments that a source said were largely made in jest, Johnson – who is also the Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip – attacked the former prime minister over his speech in support of Labour’s current leader Ed Miliband.
(13) Although this article is presented in jest, I am not above anything that works to get contributions for my newsletter.
(14) I saw Brand's Messiah Complex show in London the other week, in which he – in jest, of course – compares himself to Che Guevara, Gandhi, Malcolm X and Christ.
(15) He likes winding people up, being controversial for the sake of it and more often than not what he says is in jest.
(16) In jest or in earnest, there is a rank hypocrisy here that sits uncomfortably with me.
(17) It was planned as the much-anticipated follow-up to Infinite Jest , the teeming 1,000-page bleakly comic masterpiece that had established Wallace, at 34, as the man most likely to redefine the scope and voice of the American novel.
(18) One 18th-century classicist is even said to have planned to write a scholarly edition of the best-known joke book of that period, Joe Miller's Jests , in order to show that every single joke in it was descended from the ancient Laughter Lover .
(19) Eurozone unlocks €10.3bn bailout loan for Greece Read more I jest of course.
(20) A number of edits, apparently made in jest, have been picked up by the automatic twitter bot Congress Edits , which monitors Wikipedia for changes to the site made by accounts with IP addresses coming from inside the US legislature.
Lest
Definition:
(v. i.) To listen.
(n.) Lust; desire; pleasure.
(a.) Last; least.
(a.) For fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not.
(a.) That (without the negative particle); -- after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension.
Example Sentences:
(1) The sexual rehabilitation of such patients is vital and must be done sensitively lest one's own concepts of "adequate sexuality" be imposed.
(2) But lest the duchess feel overlooked, the end section of the show featured long, pale-blue bias-cut crepe dresses with more of a charity gala feel; and knee-length silk crepe dresses with black grosgrain belts seemed princess friendly.
(3) Worse, the CFL contains mercury, which according to the EU's own regulations cannot be discarded in ordinary waste, lest the mercury leach into the water supply.
(4) And lest there be any remaining doubt, a forensic expert on maggots – such people do exist – testified that the theory of "semen-destroying maggots" was balderdash.
(5) Special care in the management of so-called 'chronic Lyme disease' is crucial lest the clinician prescribes prolonged or unending courses of antibiotics for such noninfectious problems.
(6) "The story is an extrapolation of what Mary Shelley did" explains writer Kevin Grevioux, lest there be any doubt.
(7) Loop sigmoid colostomy employing a stapling device and catheter irrigation of the distal segment is less time-consuming and has lest potential for contamination than the standard double-barrel colostomy.
(8) "Lest any holier-than-thou activists and politicians from other parties should forget, this is not just a Lib Dem issue, it is one that confronts women in all parties and in all professions.
(9) Whistleblowers with dual citizenship who speak out on Australia’s national security – including those involved in allegations that Timor-Leste’s cabinet room was bugged – could face having their citizenship revoked under proposed laws.
(10) You might have read a couple of articles in fashion magazines of late attempting to big up the DD look, no doubt with references to denim's "timelessness", "1950s teenage sense of freedom" and, lest we forget, "Americana".
(11) His film, The Angels' Share, a larky whisky heist, was screened with English as well as French subtitles at the festival, lest the Glaswegian accents prove a barrier for non-Scots.
(12) Article 6 of the EU treaty could not be clearer: “The union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the member states.” Lest this be regarded as mere rhetoric, Lord Bingham, the former senior law lord and widely regarded as the most outstanding British judge in the late 20th century, wrote in his book The Rule of Law (p67): “The European Commission has consistently treated democratisation, the rule of law, respect for human rights and good governance as inseparably linked.” This is why, today, we can work anywhere in the EU, have health cover throughout, bring back as much booze in the back of the van as we like, travel on cheap EU-based airlines (with the right to claim compensation for any delay), buy the villa in Marbella, and say what we like – and we can do all of these things with our rights fully protected by the law, just as if we were in the UK.
(13) Dahl’s heroine, Sophie, is a lonely young girl plucked from her bed in an orphanage by the titular behemoth, and carried off to Giant Land, his home, lest she alert the normal world to the presence of giants.
(14) A spokeswoman for the AFP did not confirm the particular section of the referral, but said in a statement: “On 13 December 2013, the Australian federal police received a referral from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation relating to an allegation a former Australian intelligence officer disclosed information relating to operational activity in Timor-Leste.
(15) However, the author points out that these demonstration projects should be evaluated lest they continue to operate on the basis of rhetoric rather than fact.
(16) Since the clinical identification of these autoantigens often relies exclusively on size determination by Western blotting, we have characterized the commonly occurring fragments of histidyl-tRNA synthetase lest they confuse such identification.
(17) Lest we forget, Maradona only really got going in the quarter-finals.
(18) So, lest we are to be ruled solely by sociopaths and Blair's robot children, we should give them all a Bunbury option: a "Michael Green", under whose name to exercise all the human complexity for which modern politics cannot currently find room.
(19) Australia has made fresh promises limiting how it might use documents at the heart of a dispute with Timor-Leste , attempting to weaken the case for the international court of justice to order the sensitive material be surrendered.
(20) Lest there have been any remaining doubt, Donald Trump has confirmed a bully now resides in the White House.