banter

Formsbanters, bantering, bantered

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Quick-witted, good-humored, playful conversation, usually made up on the spot.

   Dinner was full of easy banter between old college friends.

   What starts as harmless banter can turn hurtful once one person stops laughing.

   Similarpleasantry, raillery

   Note

   Nobody knows for certain where the word came from. It surfaces in the 1670s as a verb and in the 1680s as a noun, possibly out of London street slang; the idea that it began with Irish bean, "woman", making banter "talk of women", is only a guess. Raillery is an older, more literary near-synonym for the same quick, teasing exchange.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To take part in banter, trading playful and joking remarks in conversation.

   The two quarterbacks bantered good-naturedly at the joint press conference.

   Regulars at the counter banter with the cook while he flips pancakes.

   Similarjoke, jest, josh

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To tease someone mildly.

   The crew bantered the new recruit about his spotless boots.

   Don't banter him too much about his height; he's sensitive about it.

   Similarkid, chaff

   Note

   With a direct object the verb names the person teased, and about or on introduces what they are teased for. In Charlotte Brontë's Shirley (1849) little Mr. Sweeting is bantered about his stature; in Washington Irving's Tales of a Traveller (1824) a man kept awake by his own fancy is bantered on his haggard looks. Once the teasing turns cruel, mock or ridicule is the better word.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Good-humored patter and conversation starters used by people whose work brings them into frequent contact with the public, such as store clerks, salespeople and nurses.

   The salesman's practiced banter put customers at ease long before he mentioned a price.

   Pediatric nurses pick up a little gentle banter to distract children from the needle.

   Similarpatter, chatter

5. 5
   ridicule (a trait)verbtransitive

   To joke about or ridicule a trait, habit or similar quality.

   Similarmock, ridicule

   Note

   Here the object is the habit or quality, not the person who has it: one banters someone's regularity or love of study. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, recommends answering such mockery in kind, bantering in return the other side's neglect of those virtues. Set it beside the mild teasing of a person, where the object is human and the tone friendlier.

6. 6
   trickverbtransitive

   To deceive someone into believing something false, or to play a prank on them.

   Similartrick, fool, hoax

   Note

   An older meaning in which the joke is a deception: to banter someone was to string them along with something false. Daniel Defoe uses it in Moll Flanders (1722), where poor scholars are bantered with hopes of a lord's chaplaincy. A modern reader expects harmless chat from the word, so in older prose watch for the trick behind it.

7. 7
   challengeverbdialectalSouthernUSWesterntransitive

   To challenge someone to a match or contest.

   Old Jim bantered the stranger to a horse race down the county road.

   I'll banter any one of you boys to an arm-wrestling match.

   Similarchallenge

   Note

   Casual speech in the Southern and Western United States uses the verb for calling someone out to a contest, and the match follows with to: bantering a stranger to a horse race, or a friend to an arm-wrestling bout. Outside those regions the verb suggests the teasing meaning, so the named contest is what carries the challenge.

8. 8
   bargainverbdialectalUKintransitive

   To haggle over something in order to bring its price down.

   She bantered with the stallholder until he took two pounds off the rug.

   There's no use trying to banter in that shop, because the prices are fixed.

   Similarhaggle, bargain, dicker

   Note

   British dialect speech uses it for bargaining hard, talking a seller's price down; the older phrase cheapen the price means the same thing. Most English speakers know only friendly joking talk by this word, so the haggling sense depends on a market stall, a price or a sale being plainly in view.

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