▪ I. joking, vbl. n.
(ˈdʒəʊkɪŋ)
[f. joke v. + -ing1.]
a. The action of the vb. joke; jesting. Phr. joking apart [apart adv. 5 b].
| 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 33 Punning, quibling, and that which they call joquing, and such other delicacies of wit. 1694 R. L'Estrange Fables ccccii. (1708) 430 Singing and Joaking was his Delight. 1745 S. Cibber Let. 18 July in D. Garrick Private Corr. (1831) I. 35 But joking apart, I long till you come that we may consult together. 1841 J. Elliotson Let. 4 Aug. in Dickens Lett. (1969) II. 345 Joking apart, you make me ashamed with your overflowing of the milk of kindness. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vi. 101 The captain of the school in the art of practical joking. 1860 Practical joking [see bite n. 9]. 1888 Henty Cornet of Horse vii. 64, I..have put up more than once with practical jokings. 1918 C. Mackenzie Early Life Sylvia Scarlett 11. i. 256 No, joking apart, I think it would be a great effort. 1931 ‘G. Trevor’ Murder at School xiii. 254 Joking apart, you had some ingenious ideas. 1973 Times 17 Nov. 11/8 Joking apart, this is the kind of show difficult to write about without..spoiling the jokes. |
b. joking relationship (Anthropol.), a relationship of familiarity between specific persons which is sanctioned in certain tribal groups.
| 1920 R. H. Lowie Primitive Soc. (1921) v. 95 Of a distinct character is the joking-relationship of the Crow and Hidarsa. 1933 E. E. Evans-Pritchard Ess. Social Anthropol. (1962) vii. 151 One way in which intimacy and equality are expressed between the partners [sc. blood⁓brothers] is by each publicly insulting the other, a custom commonly described by ethnologists as a ‘joking relationship’. Ibid. 152 A ‘joking relationship’ may grow up between two clans. 1958 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown Method in Social Anthropol. i. v. 119 The expression of opposition between the moieties may take various forms. One is the institution to which anthropologists have given the not very satisfactory name of ‘the joking relationship’. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 358/1 A joking relationship is a relationship between two persons (sometimes between two groups) in which one is by custom permitted (and in some cases obliged) to tease or make fun of the other, who must take no offence... Obscenity..and the taking of property are common forms. |
▪ II. joking, ppl. a.
(ˈdʒəʊkɪŋ)
[f. joke v. + -ing2.]
That jokes. Hence ˈjokingly adv.
| 1700 Toland Life Harrington in Oceana 24 Harrington jokingly said, That they had an excellent faculty of magnifying a Louse, and diminishing a Commonwealth. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Tuesday, In joking talk. 1893 Liddon, etc. Life Pusey I. iv. 90 His friends..used to say jokingly ‘you are looking towards Canterbury’. |