I. joke 1 S2 W3 /dʒəʊk $ dʒoʊk/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ joke , ↑ joker , ↑ jokiness , ↑ jocularity ; adverb : ↑ jokingly , ↑ jokily , ↑ jocularly ; adjective : ↑ jokey , ↑ jocular ; verb : ↑ joke ]
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: jocus ]
1 . something that you say or do to make people laugh, especially a funny story or trick
joke about
a joke about absent-minded professors
I couldn’t go out with someone for a joke, could you?
2 . be a joke informal to be completely useless, stupid, or unreasonable:
The whole meeting was a joke.
3 . go/get/be beyond a joke a situation that has got beyond a joke has become serious and worrying:
This rain’s getting beyond a joke – let’s go inside.
4 . something is no joke used to emphasize that a situation is serious or that someone really means what they say:
The risk he’s taking is no joke.
It’s no joke bringing up a child on your own.
5 . somebody can take a joke used to say that someone is able to laugh at jokes about themselves:
Your problem is you just can’t take a joke.
6 . make a joke (out) of something to treat something serious as if it was intended to be funny:
He could not bring himself to apologise. Instead, he tried to make a joke of it.
7 . sb’s idea of a joke spoken a situation that someone else thinks is funny but you do not:
Look, if this is your idea of a joke, I don’t find it at all funny.
8 . the joke’s on somebody used to say that something has happened to make someone seem stupid, especially when they were trying to make other people seem stupid
⇨ ↑ in-joke , ↑ practical joke , ⇨ standing joke at ↑ standing 1 (3)
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ tell a joke (=repeat a funny story)
He was always telling jokes and making people laugh.
▪ make a joke ( also crack a joke ) (=say something intended to be funny)
He was cracking jokes and seemed relaxed and happy.
▪ get a joke (=understand a joke and find it funny)
She never gets my jokes.
▪ laugh at sb’s jokes
A few people laughed at his jokes, but some didn’t find them funny.
▪ play a joke on somebody (=trick someone to make people laugh)
John’s always playing jokes on his brothers.
■ adjectives
▪ a good/funny joke
I heard a really good joke the other day.
▪ a bad/terrible joke (=not funny)
Dad was known for his bad jokes.
▪ a cruel/sick joke (=very unkind)
When I heard he had cancer, at first I thought it was some kind of sick joke.
▪ an old joke
It reminded me of the old joke about the chicken crossing the road.
▪ a dirty joke (=about sex)
A bunch of boys were telling dirty jokes.
▪ a practical joke (=that involves tricking someone)
What the workers think is a practical joke, management might regard as sabotage.
▪ an inside/a private joke (=that only a few people who are involved in something will understand)
After I’d worked there a while, I started to understand some of the inside jokes.
▪ a running joke (=in which people always laugh when the same situation happens, or when someone says something)
It’s a running joke in our house that my husband can never find his keys.
■ phrases
▪ a joke falls flat (=people don’t find a joke funny)
His practical jokes usually fell flat.
▪ be the butt of a joke (=be the person a joke is made about, so that people laugh at you)
Somehow he’d become the butt of all his classmates’ jokes.
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say 'say a joke' . Say tell a joke .
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THESAURUS
▪ joke a funny story that you tell people to make them laugh:
We all sat around telling jokes.
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Have you heard the joke about the man who found a frog in his soup?
▪ funny story a short story that someone tells to make people laugh:
He was one of those guys who are good at telling funny stories at dinner parties.
▪ gag a short joke, especially one told by a professional entertainer:
He’s a great comedian, with plenty of good gags.
▪ one-liner a very short joke or funny remark:
There are some memorable one-liners in the film.
▪ wisecrack a funny remark or reply, especially one that is said in a very quick and clever way:
It’s a comic masterpiece, packed with classic wisecracks.
▪ pun ( also play on words ) a joke made by mixing up two different meanings of the same word, or two words with the same sound:
a pun on the words ‘bear’ and ‘bare’
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The title of the book is a witty play on words.
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Shakespeare used a lot of puns for comic effect.
▪ quip written something funny and clever that someone says:
He made some friendly quip about hair loss, and everyone laughed.
II. joke 2 S3 BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ joke , ↑ joker , ↑ jokiness , ↑ jocularity ; adverb : ↑ jokingly , ↑ jokily , ↑ jocularly ; adjective : ↑ jokey , ↑ jocular ; verb : ↑ joke ]
1 . to say things that are intended to be funny and that you do not really mean
joke about
I never joke about money.
joke with
As we left the hospital, he joked with the staff.
joke that
His father joked that his son was trying to put him out of business.
Calm down, Jo, I was only joking.
2 . you’re joking/you must be joking ( also you’ve got to be joking ) spoken used to tell someone that what they are suggesting is so strange or silly that you cannot believe that they are serious:
‘Tell him.’ ‘You must be joking – he’d never believe me.’
3 . joking apart/aside British English used before you say something serious after you have been joking
—jokingly adverb