joke

joke¹ W3S2 [dʒəuk US dʒouk] n

[Date: 1600-1700; : Latin; Origin: jocus]

1.) something that you say or do to make people laugh, especially a funny story or trick

▪ Do you know any good jokes?

joke about

▪ a joke about absent-minded professors

▪ There's no need to make silly jokes , David.

▪ He was always telling jokes and making people laugh.

▪ She never gets my jokes .

▪ She wondered if the others were playing a joke on her.

▪ I couldn't go out with someone for a joke , could you?

▪ They seemed to be sharing a private joke .

▪ What the workers think is a practical joke, management might regard as sabotage.

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.) sth 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.) sb 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 sth

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 sb

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 ↑standing¹ (3)

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

crack/make a joke (=say something funny)

tell a joke (=tell a funny story)

get a joke (=understand why something is funny)

play a joke (on somebody) (=trick someone)

as a joke/for a joke British English (=to make people laugh)

private joke (=a joke only a few people understand)

inside joke American English (=a joke that only a few people with knowledge about a particular subject or event will understand)

practical joke (=a trick)

dirty joke (=a joke about sex)

sick joke (=an unpleasant joke)

HINT sense 1

Do not say 'say a joke'. Say tell a joke or tell someone a joke.

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joke ²

joke² S3 v

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 [i]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

BrE used before you say something serious after you have been joking

>jokingly adv