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banter. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
banter, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
banter in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
banter you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
1670s as verb, 1680s as noun. The origin is unknown, possibly from London street slang; ostensibly as *bant + -er (frequentative suffix). Possibly an Anglo-Gaelicism from the Irish bean (“woman”), so that "banter" means "talk of women."
Pronunciation
Noun
banter (uncountable)
- Sharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation.
- Synonyms: pleasantry, raillery
1927–1929, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVIII, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC:I was elected to the Executive Committee of the Vegetarian Society, and made it a point to attend every one of its meetings, but I always felt tongue-tied. Dr. Oldfield once said to me, 'You talk to me quite all right, but why is it that you never open your lips at a committee meeting? You are a drone.' I appreciated the banter. The bees are ever busy, the drone is a thorough idler.
2007, Evelyn M. Field, Bully Blocking, page 17:This bullying continuum illustrates the progressive escalation from harmless banter to bullying and criminal behaviours.
Translations
good humoured conversation
- Bulgarian: закачка (bg) (zakačka), задявка (bg) (zadjavka)
- Catalan: gatzara (ca) f
- Dutch: geplaag (nl), scherts (nl), badinage (nl)
- Finnish: rupattelu (fi)
- French: plaisanterie (fr) f, badinage (fr) m
- Galician: parola (gl) f, leria (gl) f
- German: Gelabere (de) n (colloquial), Wortgeplänkel (de) n, Geplänkel (de) n, Scherz (de) m, Neckerei (de) f, Ulk (de) m, Geplauder (de) n, Gelaber (de) n
- Icelandic: stríðni f
- Italian: chiacchierata (it) f
- Japanese: からかい (karakai)
- Macedonian: за́качка f (zákačka), заеба́нција f (zaebáncija), заде́вање n (zadévanje)
- Maori: whakatara
- Polish: przekomarzanie się
- Portuguese: caçoada (pt) f, brincadeira (pt) f, resenha (pt) f
- Russian: шутливая беседа f
- Scots: craic
- Spanish: charla (es) f, plática f, cháchara (es) f
- Swedish: smågnabb, snack (colloquial), småprat (sv), munhuggande n
- Turkish: muhabbet (tr)
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Verb
banter (third-person singular simple present banters, present participle bantering, simple past and past participle bantered)
- (intransitive) To engage in banter or playful conversation.
- (intransitive) To play or do something amusing.
- (transitive) To tease (someone) mildly.
- Synonyms: kid, wind up
1760 January 28 (first performance), [Samuel] Foote, The Minor, a Comedy. , London: J. Coote, ; G Kearsly, ; T Davies, , published 1760, →OCLC, Act II, page 56:Here comes the muſty trader, running over vvith remonſtrances. I muſt banter the cit.
- (transitive) To joke about; to ridicule (a trait, habit, etc.).
- (transitive) To delude or trick; to play a prank upon.
1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. , London: W Chetwood, ; and T. Edling, , published 1722, →OCLC, pages 69–70:[W]e diverted ourſelves vvith bantering ſeveral other poor Scholars, vvith hopes of being at leaſt his Lordſhip's Chaplains and putting on a Scarf; […]
- (transitive, US, Southern and Western, colloquial) To challenge to a match.
- (UK, dialect) To haggle; cheapen the price.
Derived terms
Translations
to play or do something amusing
to tease mildly
- Bulgarian: закачам се (zakačam se), шегувам се (šeguvam se)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 談笑/谈笑 (zh) (tánxiào)
- Czech: škádlit (cs) impf
- Dutch: plagen (nl)
- Finnish: kiusoitella (fi)
- French: taquiner (fr)
- German: necken (de), verulken (de), auf den Arm nehmen (de), sich necken, sticheln (de)
- Icelandic: stríða (is)
- Ido: moketar (io)
- Italian: stuzzicare (it)
- Macedonian: се ше́гува (se šéguva)
- Polish: przekomarzać się (pl)
- Portuguese: caçoar (pt), bulir (pt)
- Russian: добродушно подшучивать (dobrodušno podšučivatʹ), подтрунивать (ru) (podtrunivatʹ), поддразнивать (ru) (poddraznivatʹ)
- Spanish: torear (es), burlarse de (es), tomar el pelo a (es), chacotear (es)
- Turkish: takılmak (tr)
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References
Further reading
Anagrams