#842. Wit. -- N. wit, humor, wittiness; sense of humor; attic wit, attic salt; atticism[obs]; salt, esprit, point, fancy, whim, drollery, pleasantry.
farce, buffoonery, fooling, tomfoolery; shenanigan [U.S.], harlequinade &c. 599[obs]; broad farce, broad humor; fun, espieglerie[Fr]; vis comica[Lat].
jocularity; jocosity, jocoseness[obs]; facetiousness; waggery, waggishness; whimsicality; comicality &c. 853.
banter, badinage, retort, repartee, smartness, ready wit, quid-pro- quo; ridicule &c. 856.
jest, joke, jape, jibe; facetiae[Lat], levity, quips and cranks; capital joke; canorae nugae[Lat]; standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto[obs], plaisanterie[Fr], brilliant idea; merry thought, bright thought, happy thought; sally; flash of wit, flash of merriment; scintillation; mot[Fr], mot pour rire [French]; witticism, smart saying, bon-mot,jeu d'esprit[Fr],epigram; jest book; dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest.
word-play, jeu de mots[Fr]; play of words, play upon words; pun, punning; double entente, double entendre &c. (ambiguity) 520[Fr]; quibble, verbal quibble; conundrum &c. (riddle) 533; anagram, acrostic, double acrostic, trifling, idle conceit, turlupinade|.
old joke, tired joke, flat joke, Joe Miller|!.
V. joke, jest, crack a joke, make a joke, jape, cut jokes; perpetrate a joke; pun, perpetrate a pun; make fun of, make merry with; kid, kid around, fool around; set the table in a roar &c. (amuse) 840.
retort; banter &c. (ridicule) 856; ridentem dicere verum[Lat]; joke at one's expense.
take in jest.
[make a joke which is not funny] bomb, fall flat; go over like a lead balloon.
Adj. witty, attic; quick-witted, nimble-witted; smart; jocular, jocose, humorous; facetious, waggish, whimsical; kidding, joking, puckish; playful &c. 840; merry and wise; pleasant, sprightly, light, spirituel[obs], sparkling, epigrammatic, full of point, ben trovato[It]; comic &c. 853.
zany, madcap.
funny, amusing &c. (amusement) 840.
Adv. jokingly, in joke, in jest, in sport, in play.
Phr. adhibenda est in jocando moderatio[Lat][obs]; "gentle dullness ever loves a joke" [Pope]; "leave this keen encounter of our wits" [Richard III]; just joking, just kidding; "surely you jest!".