jesters

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of jester.

   Medieval courts kept jesters in bright costumes to entertain the nobles at feasts.

   In the Borneo rainforest, our guide pointed out a pair of jesters sunning their wings by the stream.

   Note

   One plural serves three nouns: the fools in colorful dress and fool's cap who amused royal and noble courts, anyone given to joking or teasing, and the nymphalid butterflies of the Southeast Asian genus Symbrenthia. Setting does the sorting, a feast pointing one way and a rainforest stream another. After he or she, the same spelling is the clowning verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of jester.

   Note

   The verb takes no object: a person jesters for an audience or to win attention, but never jesters someone, and its point is display, the clowning of a performer rather than a single quip. Where only words are involved, jests is the closer choice, since a jester is first of all one who jests.

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