jester

one who makes jokes and funny moves; a professional clown: the court jester

Not to be confused with:

gesture – a movement of the hand, arm, body, head, or face that expresses a thought, opinion, or emotion: a threatening gesture; any action or communication used to express an idea or feeling: a loving gesture

jest·er

(jĕs′tər)

1. One given to jesting.

2. A fool or buffoon at medieval courts.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

jester

(ˈdʒɛstə)

a professional clown employed by a king or nobleman, esp at courts during the Middle Ages

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

jest•er

(ˈdʒɛs tər)

n.

1. a person who is given to jesting.

2. a professional fool or clown, esp. at a medieval court.

[1325–75]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

jester - a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

motley fool, fool

merry andrew, buffoon, clown, goof, goofball - a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior

jester

noun

1. fool, clown, harlequin, zany, madcap, prankster, buffoon, pantaloon, mummer a chap dressed as a court jester

2. humorist, comic, wit, comedian, wag, joker, dag (N.Z. informal), quipster, joculator or (fem.) joculatrix he is the class jester writ large

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

jester

noun

A person whose words or actions provoke or are intended to provoke amusement or laughter:

clown, comedian, comic, farceur, funnyman, humorist, joker, jokester, quipster, wag, wit, zany.

Informal: card.

Translations

مُهَرِّج، مَزّاح، بَهْلول

šašek

hofnarnar

Hofnarr Narr Witzbold

bufón

hovinarrinarri

arlequin baladin bouffon

udvari bolond

hirîfífl

buffone burlone giullare

jester

[ˈdʒestəʳ] N → bufón m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

jester

[ˈdʒɛstə^r] n → bouffon m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

jester

(Hist) → Narr m; the King’s jester → der Hofnarr

(= joker) → Spaßvogel m, → Witzbold m (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

jester

[ˈdʒɛstəʳ] n (also court jester) → buffone m (di corte)

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

jest

(dʒest) noun

a joke; something done or said to cause amusement.

verb

to joke.

ˈjester noun

in former times, a man employed in the courts of kings, nobles etc to amuse them with jokes etc.

in jest

as a joke; not seriously. speaking in jest.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

His fool, or professional jester, was not only a fool, however.

"Come here, Hop-Frog," said he, as the jester and his friend entered the room; "swallow this bumper to the health of your absent friends, [here Hop-Frog sighed,] and then let us have the benefit of your invention.

And now, while the whole assembly (the apes included) were convulsed with laughter, the jester suddenly uttered a shrill whistle; when the chain flew violently up for about thirty feet -- dragging with it the dismayed and struggling ourang-outangs, and leaving them suspended in mid-air between the sky-light and the floor.

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It is like the sadness which you may see in the jester's eyes when a merry company is laughing at his sallies; his lips smile and his jokes are gayer because in the communion of laughter he finds himself more intolerably alone.

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``Gurth,'' said the Jester, ``I know thou thinkest me a fool, or thou wouldst not be so rash in putting thy head into my mouth.

``Betray thee!'' answered the Jester; ``no, that were the trick of a wise man; a fool cannot half so well help himself but soft, whom have we here?'' he said, listening to the trampling of several horses which became then audible.

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The executioner speedily untied the knots which confined the doctor, and was passing the cord round the neck of the tailor, when the Sultan of Kashgar, who had missed his jester, happened to make inquiry of his officers as to what had become of him.

As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until he had consulted his master.

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Jones instantly interposed on behalf of the suffering party, and pinned the insulting conqueror up to the wall: for the puppet-show man was no more able to contend with Jones than the poor party-coloured jester had been to contend with this puppet-man.

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Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, son of him who played so conspicuous a part in the early chapters of this history, -- Villiers of Buckingham, a handsome cavalier, melancholy with women, a jester with men, -- and Wilmot, Lord Rochester, a jester with both sexes, were standing at this moment before the Lady Henrietta, disputing the privilege of making her smile.

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Gania also was often made the butt of the jester's sarcasms, who used this method of keeping in Nastasia Philipovna's good graces.

View in context

The lady who, afraid of being stopped by Count Rostopchin's orders, had already in June moved with her Negroes and her women jesters from Moscow to her Saratov estate, with a vague consciousness that she was not Bonaparte's servant, was really, simply, and truly carrying out the great work which saved Russia.

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