Noah Webster
Jest
JEST, noun [Latin gestio.]
1. A joke; something ludicrous uttered and meant only to excite laughter. Religion should never be the subject of jest
2. The object of laughter or sport; a laughing stock.
Then let me be your jest I deserve it.
In jest for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest.
--And given in earnest what I begged in jest
3. A mask.
4. A deed; an action.
JEST', verb intransitive To divert or make merry by words or actions; to joke.
JEST not with a rude man, lest thy ancestors be disgraced.
1. To utter in sport; to say what is not true, merely for diversion.
2. To play a part in a mask.