idle conceit, turlupinade|.
     old joke, tired joke, flat joke, Joe Miller|!. 
     V. joke, jest, crack a joke, make a joke, jape, cut jokes; perpetrate
a joke; pun, perpetrate a pun; make fun of, make merry with; kid, kid around, fool around; set the table in a roar &c. (amuse) 840.
     retort; banter &c. (ridicule) 856; ridentem dicere verum[Lat]; joke at
one’s expense.
     take in jest.
     [make a joke which is not funny] bomb, fall flat; go over like a lead
balloon. 
     Adj. witty, attic; quick-witted, nimble-witted; smart; jocular,
jocose, humorous; facetious, waggish, whimsical; kidding, joking, puckish; playful &c. 840; merry and wise; pleasant, sprightly, light, spirituel[obs3], sparkling, epigrammatic, full of point, ben trovato[It]; comic &c. 853.
     zany, madcap.
     funny, amusing &c. (amusement) 840. 
     Adv. jokingly, in joke, in jest, in sport, in play. 
     Phr. adhibenda est in jocando moderatio[Lat][obs3]; “gentle dullness
ever loves a joke” [Pope]; “leave this keen encounter of our wits” [Richard III]; just joking, just kidding; “surely you jest!”.

     #843.  Dullness. —­ N. dullness, heaviness, flatness; infestivity
[obs3] &c. 837, stupidity &c. 499; want of originality; dearth of ideas.
     prose, matter of fact; heavy book, conte a dormir debout[Fr];
platitude. 
     V. be dull &c. adj.; prose, take au serieux[Fr], be caught napping.
     render dull &c. adj.; damp, depress, throw cold water on, lay a wet
blanket on; fall flat upon the ear.
     no joke, serious matter (importance) 642. 
     Adj. dull, dull as ditch water; unentertaining, uninteresting, flat,
dry as dust; unfunny, unlively[obs3], logy [U.S.]; unimaginative; insulse[obs3]; dry as dust; prosy, prosing, prosaic; matter of fact, commonplace, pedestrian, pointless; “weary stale flat and unprofitable” [Hamlet].
     stupid, slow, flat, insipid, vapid, humdrum, monotonous; melancholic
&c. 837; stolid &c. 499; plodding.
     boring, tiresome, tedious &c. 841. 
     Phr. davus sum non Aedipus[obs3]; deadly dull and boring, DDB[abbr].

     #844.  Humorist. —­ N. humorist, wag, wit, reparteeist[obs3],
epigrammatist, punster; bel esprit, life of the party; wit-snapper, wit-cracker, wit-worm; joker, jester, Joe Miller|!, drole de corps[obs3], gaillard[obs3], spark; bon diable[Fr]; practical joker.
     buffoon, farceur[French], merry-andrew, mime, tumbler, acrobat,
mountebank, charlatan, posturemaster[obs3], harlequin, punch, pulcinella[obs3], scaramouch[obs3], clown; wearer of the cap and bells, wearer of the motley; motley fool; pantaloon, gypsy; jack-pudding, jack in the green, jack a dandy; wiseacre, wise guy, smartass [coll.]; fool &c. 501.
     zany, madcap; pickle-herring, witling[obs3], caricaturist,
grimacier[obs3]; persifleur[obs3].

—­ p. 287 —­ %

2.  Discriminative Affections