jape

Definition of jape

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

A joke or quip.

“[H]e clapped hand to thigh, and laughed and laughed until the air rang again. "Oho, a jape—a jape indeed!" he roared.”
““Now I come to think of it, I suppose schooling isn't such a bad idea as long as he can have some japes and tomfoolery with his young cohorts.” “My love, it will be very good for him and very good for us.””

See all 5 definitions

noun

A joke or quip.

“[H]e clapped hand to thigh, and laughed and laughed until the air rang again. "Oho, a jape—a jape indeed!" he roared.”
““Now I come to think of it, I suppose schooling isn't such a bad idea as long as he can have some japes and tomfoolery with his young cohorts.” “My love, it will be very good for him and very good for us.””
A prank or trick.

“In London or New York in the late 1970s dada meant what it meant in Paris and New York at the end of the First World War: a not-quite-naked prank, a jape clothed in the barest g-string of aesthetic authority, a Bronx cheer in three-part harmony, Tzara's affirmation of the right “to piss and shit in different colors.””

verb

(intransitive)To jest; play tricks.

“Now the Lond of Egypt longeth to the Soudan, yet the Soudan longeth not to the Lond of Egypt. And when I say this, I do jape with words, and may hap ye understond me not.”
(transitive)To mock; deride.
(obsolete)To have sexual intercourse with.

“Nay, brother, lay hand on him soon; / For he japed my wife, and made me cuckold.”
“I jape a wench […] it is better to jape a wenche than to do worce.”
“Thair is ane hundreth heir sittand by / That luiffis geaping als weill as I.”
“Sum gois so gymp in gyis / Or sche war kissit plane, / Sche leir be japit thryis.”
“Fottere. To jape, to sard, to fucke, to swive, to occupye.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English japen (“to deceive, play tricks on; act foolishly, joke; have sex with”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”)…

See full etymology

From Middle English japen (“to deceive, play tricks on; act foolishly, joke; have sex with”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”). See also gab, Old Occitan japar, jaupar (“to bark, yelp, yap”), related to Old Saxon galpōn (“to cry loudly, make a noise, brag”) (Low German galpen (“to bark, howl, scream”)), Middle High German gelpfen (“to scream, bark, boast, proclaim”), Old Norse gjálpa (“to yelp”) (dialectal Swedish galpa (“to cry, screech”)). More at yelp, yawp, yap.

Anagrams of jape

1 play · some not in Scrabble

PEJA 13 pts

Words you can make from jape

5 playable · top: APE (5 pts)

Best play ape 5 points

3-letter words

1 word

PEA 5 pts

2-letter words

3 words

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

A single letter you can add to jape to make another valid word.