jape
verbEtymology From Middle English japen (“to deceive, play tricks on; act foolishly, joke; have sex with”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”). See also gab, Old Occitan japar, jaupar (“to bark, yelp, yap”), related to Old Saxon galpōn (“to cry loudly, make a noise, brag”) (Low German galpen (“to bark, howl, scream”)), Middle High German gelpfen (“to scream, bark, boast, proclaim”), Old Norse gjálpa (“to yelp”) (dialectal Swedish galpa (“to cry, screech”)). More at yelp, yawp, yap.
1
To jest; play tricks.
- Now the Lond of Egypt longeth to the Soudan, yet the Soudan longeth not to the Lond of Egypt. And when I say this, I do jape with words, and may hap ye understond me not.1886, Andrew Lang, “To Sir John Manndeville”, in Letters to Dead Authors:
2
To mock; deride.
3
Obsolete To have sexual intercourse with.
- Nay, brother, lay hand on him soon; / For he japed my wife, and made me cuckold.1510, Hycke Scorner; “Hickscorner”, in Robert Dodsley, William Carew Hazlitt, editors, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, 4th edition, volume 1, London: Reeves and Turner, 1874, page 171:
- I jape a wench […] it is better to jape a wenche than to do worce.1530, John Palsgrave, L'esclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, Paris: Impremierie Nationale, published 1852, page 589:
3 more examples
- Thair is ane hundreth heir sittand by / That luiffis geaping als weill as I.1540, Sir David Lyndsay, Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, lines 323–324; republished in The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay, volume 2, 1879, page 23:
- Sum gois so gymp in gyis / Or sche war kissit plane, / Sche leir be japit thryis.c. 1550, Alexander Scott, Poems, published 1821, page 26:
- Fottere. To jape, to sard, to fucke, to swive, to occupye.1598, Florio, Worlde of Wordes:
- Derived terms
- japingly