JOKE


Meaning of JOKE in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

black joke

a very black joke

dirty jokes

kids telling dirty jokes

filthy language/story/joke etc

funny story/joke/film etc

Do you remember any funny stories about work?

joke wears thin

The film begins well but the joke wears thin after about ten minutes.

practical joke

pull a stunt/trick/joke

Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again!

see the joke

The other officers laughed, but Nichols couldn’t see the joke .

tell a joke

They sat around telling terrible jokes.

weak joke

a weak joke

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

bad

What a bad joke and misnomer that is.

The sky was obscene in its brightness, the crimson rocks a bad joke .

To make up for the unkindness, he made a bad and nervous joke .

Or the butt of a bad joke .

It's a joke , a bad joke.

Rumors were far more relevant than bad jokes because rumors moved markets.

What it put me in mind of was a very bad joke that once ran in my family.

In particular, she could have done without the bad jokes .

big

Of course, the real reasons for the biggest joke played by Britain's voters on the pollsters since 1970 were more complicated.

But he is rescued, along with others, and the whole terrifying ordeal, he discovers, becomes a big joke .

Kellaway skipped a few pages. Big joke .

The man thought everything was a big joke .

My big present was a big joke .

He went with me to the house, me thinking it was all a big joke .

cruel

He hated Big Tom Fish, with his cruel jokes and flashing green eyes and rough workman's hands.

But the free-range, corn-fed chicken was the victim of a cruel joke .

The gods were enjoying their own cruel joke !

funny

Dolly said his jokes still weren't very funny .

I thought his poetry was funnier than his jokes , but I often got things wrong in those days.

Both laughed delightedly, as if I had cracked some very funny joke .

Tom told a clean, mildly funny joke , and Marge laughed hilariously.

good

Know any good jokes , seen any howlers in print?

Since the stonemasons were usually allowed to create their own designs, they were also given the freedom to crack good jokes .

When he found out I knew Yiddish he always had a good joke or a good line.

A collection of good Day jokes would fill a minor anthology.

When our taxi driver picks us up, he looks like he has just been told a good joke .

Far more interesting than your average conversation that involves people or a good old fashioned joke I don't think.

That would be a good joke !

little

The art work is primitive but the silly little joke is what comics used to be about.

Rain thanked her, not having the heart to tell her about Georgie's other little joke .

They seemed quite pleasant young people, who listened intently to my greetings, my introductions and my little jokes .

They stood aside and let us pass, though we heard the sniggers and laughter caused by their little jokes .

He often said that, it was one of his little jokes .

He sees them as little jokes , the same way he sees Miro.

Well, let him have his little joke !

old

Hailed as a success story for the planners, for some this new town will remain an old joke .

Remember that old joke: In every fat person there is a thin one trying to get out.

An old joke had found a brave new teller.

But like the old joke , they prepare for nuclear attack by gathering the wagons into a circle.

There is an old joke about the termites holding hands to keep a building up.

The old joke went: Q.. What do they call organized crime in Oklahoma?

practical

I reckon it must have been a practical joke: some one sticking it in her chair.

They went in for practical jokes , which at times could be trying.

The sheer viciousness of Peggy Soong's practical joke choked her.

At first I thought it was an enormous practical joke .

Perhaps the loss of sunlight was behind a small eruption of quarrels and pointless practical jokes .

All his life, he enjoyed heedless and extreme practical jokes .

He is, however, not a trustworthy sprite, and delights in practical jokes of a bizarre and sometimes gruesome nature.

Had he been brought here as some kind of practical joke ?

private

Melford, now he had tasted blood, seemed to be revelling in some private joke .

But I sensed they were getting along fine and easy-sharing private jokes and the like.

His private joke is annoying me.

We feel like a family, with private jokes to share, a history.

Throughout they appeared to be sharing some private joke .

He turned away as we entered, shoulders shaking as if relishing some private joke .

My own ... Private jokes , no longer comprehended, pull their punchlines, fall flat in the gaps between endearments.

But Sir Thomas liked riddles and his own private jokes .

sick

In 1981, you couldn't pass off wearing a swastika as a sick joke .

I thought it was a sick joke , but it wasn't.

Oh, and plantation workers sometimes earn as little as 25 cents a day ... These are sick jokes .

Either way, it was an occasion for black humour, or at least sick jokes .

It sounds like a sick joke but they are deadly serious.

Somebody is playing a sick , horrible joke on you.

■ VERB

become

But as time went on, it became less of a joke .

His name became a joke between them.

It became a standing joke that we would eventually work together, and then one day it became serious.

But he is rescued, along with others, and the whole terrifying ordeal, he discovers, becomes a big joke .

The service areas, with their awful tea and rubber sandwiches, had become a music hall joke .

It became a joke to ply him with half-pints of beer and fantasies about each other's unfitness for battle.

When brand names become the butt of jokes , trouble could lie ahead.

crack

Since the stonemasons were usually allowed to create their own designs, they were also given the freedom to crack good jokes .

I cracked jokes , told stories, performed little tricks with the silverware.

Maxie Carlo must've cracked a joke .

Both laughed delightedly, as if I had cracked some very funny joke .

And he was clean and tidy now, and civil, and could even crack a joke .

Before tempers flared, Dutriz cracked a joke , and talk returned to the news.

When he cracks a joke or whatever he does in front of the class, he just turn round and laugh.

Mike and his robots maintain their sanity by cracking jokes during the movie.

enjoy

He said you'd enjoy the joke on the king!

She enjoyed witty remarks and jokes , and would hold her waist in both hands and bend double with laughter.

At the time she gave me the impression that she was enjoying the joke .

The more obnoxious I am, the more people enjoy the joke .

I can not remember us jabber of journos enjoying a joke more.

The gods were enjoying their own cruel joke !

There were some Aussies in the crowd enjoying a good joke at our expense.

make

The notion that he might make any joke , except an obscene one, I dismissed without a second thought.

You had your own reasons for making the call, and why not make a joke out of it?

He kept making jokes about fencing which involved parrying with an imaginary sword and shouting en garde every few minutes.

He did not kno., v that he had made a joke until he saw Mel slapping his thigh and laughing.

Maggie said that I shouldn't make risky jokes with assessors in case they take it the wrong way.

Howe has been on a roll this spring, making self-effacing, folksy jokes at every opportunity.

He makes a joke of the injury because, at 59, it is an inconvenience rather than a disaster.

Waving the spy photos, making jokes about the air samples the plane had allegedly been sent to gather.

play

And revenge had been in his mind when playing the joke on Music Week.

In one of them, a man named Wakefield decides to play a joke on his wife.

My friend told me he'd played a joke on me and not to take any notice.

They would come over anytime of day or night to drink, play poker and tell jokes .

In a more mellow mood, the bogie will simply play practical jokes .

My instinct was to assume that she was playing a vicious joke .

That the boy was just simple and given to playing stupid jokes .

run

A man whose name is so synonymous with a suntan that it is a running joke in Doonesbury?

share

Until Thursday Labour might have shared that joke .

He no longer stared at the alien wires, and the two of them even laughed a little, sharing some joke .

As I thanked her, Marie looked over her shoulder at Bobbie and gave a little shrug, sharing the joke with her.

They shared laughs and small jokes .

She and mummy could always share jokes - mummy never lost her temper over them like that, especially not in public.

Throughout they appeared to be sharing some private joke .

They may share a joke with Ida.

I never saw her treat a child harshly or unkindly; in fact, she would frequently share a joke with us.

tell

Jack Firebrace told a series of jokes in the style of a music hall comic.

They had eaten lunch together and told jokes together and slowly learned how to communicate with one another.

If you succumb to the temptation to tell contrived jokes , ration yourself to two per day.

What makes him think he can tell that kind of joke ?

To hide his fear he asked Zach to tell a joke and do his funny buffalo step.

You know, you tell a joke even worse than your father.

Some one phoned up a pre-watershed live show and started telling a joke about putting suppositories up your bum.

She proceeded to tell him a joke so corny that Uncle Billy would have flatly refused it for his own collection.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

be sprinkled with jokes/quotations etc

crack a joke

He was relaxed and cracking jokes, despite his ordeal.

And he was clean and tidy now, and civil, and could even crack a joke.

Before tempers flared, Dutriz cracked a joke, and talk returned to the news.

I cracked jokes, told stories, performed little tricks with the silverware.

Maxie Carlo must've cracked a joke.

Mike and his robots maintain their sanity by cracking jokes during the movie.

They crack jokes, laughing and shouting.

We all cracked jokes over the intercom and talked about what we were going to do.

When he cracks a joke or whatever he does in front of the class, he just turn round and laugh.

feed lines/jokes to sb

is it sb's idea of a joke?

joking apart

Joking apart , I do feel somebody should tell him what we think. It's for his own good.

Peter joking apart have the tories done themselves any good this week?

naughty jokes/magazines/films etc

play a joke/trick/prank on sb

He had always played tricks on her.

Her brain had to be playing tricks on her.

In one of them, a man named Wakefield decides to play a joke on his wife.

It allowed me to detect instances when time played tricks on the memory of some of the respondents.

Jack felt edgy but convinced himself that his nerves were playing tricks on him.

Somewhat perturbed, Ted flung the door open still believing that the platelayers were playing tricks on him.

They delight in playing tricks on mortals, though they will cease to give trouble if politely requested to do so.

Yes, fate was playing tricks on me.

private joke

But I sensed they were getting along fine and easy-sharing private jokes and the like.

But Sir Thomas liked riddles and his own private jokes.

He turned away as we entered, shoulders shaking as if relishing some private joke.

His private joke is annoying me.

Melford, now he had tasted blood, seemed to be revelling in some private joke.

They were laughing into each other's faces at some private joke; they hadn't seen me.

Throughout they appeared to be sharing some private joke.

We feel like a family, with private jokes to share, a history.

running battle/joke

A man whose name is so synonymous with a suntan that it is a running joke in Doonesbury?

An even longer running battle was fought in the royal dockyards.

As well as his running battle with Monkou, he left stud marks on defender Richard Hall.

I was not told, when we left, that I should have to fight a running battle with four hundred horsemen.

In the resulting confrontation several hundred Mohawks armed with clubs and guns fought running battles with police.

Police and demonstrators regularly engage in running battles near Mr Suharto's home in central Jakarta.

The fighters quickly pursued them and eventually shot down every one in a running battle.

They saw graffiti on important public memorials and they saw running battles with the police.

standing joke

A bad mistake, as this became a standing joke for the rest of the week.

He'd been so much taller than her for such a long time that it had become a standing joke.

It became a standing joke that we would eventually work together, and then one day it became serious.

It had been a standing joke.

It is a standing joke between them, he hopes, how sophisticated their boy is.

It was something of a standing joke that she lived up to her Libran indecisiveness.

stock of jokes/knowledge/courage etc

These stocks of knowledge can be altered by interactions, through negotiation.

This ties in with the notion of the negotiable nature of people's stocks of knowledge.

threadbare excuse/argument/joke etc

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

Do you want to hear a good joke ?

Everyone laughed except Mr Broadbent, who didn't see the joke .

Have you heard any good jokes lately?

I can take a joke as well as anyone, but this isn't funny, it's embarrassing.

In some situations, a dirty joke can be considered sexual harassment.

Inside the parcel there was an empty bottle. "Is this some kind of joke ?'' he asked.

It's a good idea to start a speech by telling a joke .

It wasn't that I didn't get the joke - I just didn't think it was funny.

Leno opened the show with a joke about the election.

The two girls were whispering in the corner and giggling over some private joke .

We didn't mean to frighten you. It was only a joke .

What a joke that meeting was.

Wilson spoke for about 15 minutes, peppering his mainly serious message with jokes.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

And that was a joke , because I was half-dead with worry myself.

But he is rescued, along with others, and the whole terrifying ordeal, he discovers, becomes a big joke .

It is much too risky at the start of an interaction to make a joke about the other person.

The joke goes on to say that every night is Wednesday!

They may even have a few jokes of their own.

You're given comedy and miss all the jokes.

II. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

about

Don't joke about serious issues or say things you don't mean or it could be held against you later.

The two joked about running a joint write-in campaign, then started to take the joke seriously.

Always joking about rats: that's what I call a weird sense of humour.

Some one joked about opening a tranquilizer concession.

I don't think a lot of the staff liked you laughing and joking about .

Clinton supporters joke about how nice it would have been had Buchanan been the opposing nominee.

Though Cosby joked about it, Ennis' school performance in those years was anything but funny offstage.

Certainly there were plenty of things wrong within that school building and there was enough we could have joked about .

around

Some of this is very serious, and some of it is joking around .

Well, as a matter of fact, you did, but as you say, that was just joking around .

only

They had only joked about my going back to Bhuj because they thought I needed cheering up.

Bill Shankly was only joking when he said football was more important than life and death.

Of course, Fagan was only joking about not having Chaffee back next year.

■ VERB

laugh

Initially, she claimed that when she left the gardens, Mrs McMullen was laughing and joking with McLean.

With no worries of visits from secret police, we laughed and joked the night away, drinking wine and plum brandy.

Where everything was just plain and simple, laughing and joking the norm.

We laughed and joked , Ichiro trying the whiskey, me sipping a little sake.

He started to laugh and joked back.

They laughed and joked , and sometimes when the topic of the war came up, they became quiet.

We laughed and joked throughout and won the tournament.

I was out of my seat and out of the lecture hall before he could finish laughing at his own joke .

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

is it sb's idea of a joke?

joking apart

Joking apart , I do feel somebody should tell him what we think. It's for his own good.

Peter joking apart have the tories done themselves any good this week?

naughty jokes/magazines/films etc

private joke

But I sensed they were getting along fine and easy-sharing private jokes and the like.

But Sir Thomas liked riddles and his own private jokes.

He turned away as we entered, shoulders shaking as if relishing some private joke.

His private joke is annoying me.

Melford, now he had tasted blood, seemed to be revelling in some private joke.

They were laughing into each other's faces at some private joke; they hadn't seen me.

Throughout they appeared to be sharing some private joke.

We feel like a family, with private jokes to share, a history.

running battle/joke

A man whose name is so synonymous with a suntan that it is a running joke in Doonesbury?

An even longer running battle was fought in the royal dockyards.

As well as his running battle with Monkou, he left stud marks on defender Richard Hall.

I was not told, when we left, that I should have to fight a running battle with four hundred horsemen.

In the resulting confrontation several hundred Mohawks armed with clubs and guns fought running battles with police.

Police and demonstrators regularly engage in running battles near Mr Suharto's home in central Jakarta.

The fighters quickly pursued them and eventually shot down every one in a running battle.

They saw graffiti on important public memorials and they saw running battles with the police.

standing joke

A bad mistake, as this became a standing joke for the rest of the week.

He'd been so much taller than her for such a long time that it had become a standing joke.

It became a standing joke that we would eventually work together, and then one day it became serious.

It had been a standing joke.

It is a standing joke between them, he hopes, how sophisticated their boy is.

It was something of a standing joke that she lived up to her Libran indecisiveness.

stock of jokes/knowledge/courage etc

These stocks of knowledge can be altered by interactions, through negotiation.

This ties in with the notion of the negotiable nature of people's stocks of knowledge.

threadbare excuse/argument/joke etc

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

A group of teenagers were standing at the corner, laughing and joking.

They're a good class to teach. You can joke and have a laugh with them.

When he was a kid he was embarrassed about his height, but now he can joke about it.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Armed with his Bumper Fun Book, the minister of Dunlop joked his way around the world at various functions.

I must tell Philippa that I was joking.

I was unresponsive and kept joking with him about it - but I made it clear I wasn't interested.

Now he was joking about the rumours of his marriage.

Some one joked about opening a tranquilizer concession.

Though Cosby joked about it, Ennis' school performance in those years was anything but funny offstage.

Well, okay, he joked, his voice smooth as glass.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.