joking

1. 1
   verbcolloquialIrelandtransitive

   Teasing someone or trying to fool them, while not meaning what you say seriously.

   Relax, I'm only joking you about the deadline.

   She kept joking her brother about his terrible parking.

   Similarkidding, teasing, ribbing, fooling

   Note

   Here the person being fooled becomes a direct object: "Twenty euros cover charge? You're joking me!" The verb usually needs with or about, so this transitive pattern sounds distinctly casual. It is a spoken idiom heard in Britain, Ireland and the US, and it typically serves as an incredulous reaction to something hard to believe. In careful writing, "you're joking" without the object is the safer choice.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of joke.

   He is joking with the crowd before the show begins.

   Joking helps her relax before a big exam.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After a form of be it builds the progressive (he is joking), and on its own it works as a gerund (joking helps). The verb is mostly intransitive, so it usually reaches its target through with or about, as in joking with the crowd. Once it takes an article or a possessive, as in his easy joking, it has become the noun for jesting.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of telling jokes or otherwise being playfully funny with others.

   There was a lot of joking at the dinner table that night.

   His easy joking put the nervous guests at ease.

   Similarbanter, kidding, jesting, joshing

   Note

   A true noun, and so it can be counted. Dickens writes of "no jokings and squeakings like your precious Punches," setting it beside the knockabout noise of a puppet show. Most often it is used as a mass noun (a lot of joking). The plural jokings suits separate bouts of jest, and it lends a slightly literary color.

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