jest

From Middle English geste (“idle tale”), from Old French geste (“acts, exploits”), from Latin gesta (“acts, deeds”). Doublet of gest.

• enPR: jĕst, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛst/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Rhymes: -ɛst
• (dialectal, obsolete) enPR: jēst, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiːst/^[1]
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛst/, /d͡ʒɛːst/^[2]

jest (plural jests)

1. (archaic) An act performed for amusement; a joke.

   I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 278, column 1:

     Alas poore Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite Ieſt; […]

2. (archaic) Someone or something that is ridiculed; the target of a joke.

   Your majesty, stop him before he makes you the jest of the court.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 58, column 2:

     Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt, / I deſerue it […]

3. (obsolete) A deed; an action; a gest.
   • 1540, Thomas Elyot, Image of Governance:

     the jests or actions of princes

4. (obsolete) A mask; a pageant; an interlude.
   • c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for T[homas] Pauier, […], published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     He promised us, in honour of our guest, / To grace our banquet with some pompous jest.

• (joke): prank, gag, laughingstock, banter, crack, wisecrack, witticism
• See also Thesaurus:joke

jest (third-person singular simple present jests, present participle jesting, simple past and past participle jested)

1. To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone.

   Surely you jest!

• (to joke): banter, kid, mock, tease

• jest on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Pronunciation spelling of just.

jest (not comparable)

1. (African-American Vernacular, Southern US, Shropshire) Alternative spelling of just.
   • 1890, Emma E. Hornibrook, Queen of the ranche; or, Life in the Far west, page 150:

     So I jest called out to know what was up, and found it was Miss Vanholte's cowboys, who had been forced into the store by them rascally ruffins.

• ESTJ, Jets, jets

Inherited from Old Czech jest, from Proto-Slavic *estь, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es-.

• IPA^(key): [ˈjɛst]

jest

1. (literary, obsolete) third-person singular present indicative of být

   Synonym: je

• jester

From Old Norse jǫstr, from Proto-Germanic *jestuz, whence English yeast.

• IPA^(key): /jest/
• Homophone: gjest

jest m (definite singular jesten, indefinite plural jester, definite plural jestene)

1. yeast

   Synonym: gjær

• ese

• “jest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “jest” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• jester
• gjester (non-standard since 1938)

From Old Norse jǫstr, from Proto-Germanic *jestuz, whence also English yeast.

• IPA^(key): /jɛst/
• Homophone: gjest

jest m (definite singular jesten, indefinite plural jestar, definite plural jestane)

1. yeast

   Synonym: gjær

• asa, ase
• esa, ese

• “jest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *estь.

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈjɛst/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈjɛst/

jest

1. third-person singular present indicative of býti

• Czech: jest

Inherited from Old Polish jest, from Proto-Slavic *estь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *esti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛst/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Audio 3:

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• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Syllabification: jest

jest

1. third-person singular present indicative of być; is

   Ona jest ładna. ― She's pretty.

   Agnieszka jest studentką. ― Agnieszka is a student.

2. (mathematics) is, equals (see also wynosi)

   dwa plus dwa jest cztery. ― Two plus two is four.

jest (Cyrillic spelling јест)

1. third-person singular present of bȉti

   Synonym: je

Borrowed from French geste

• IPA^(key): /ʒest/

jest (definite accusative jesti, plural jestler)

1. gesture