"jape" meaning in Middle English

See jape in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: japes [plural], iape [alternative]
Etymology: Perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”). Etymology templates: {{dercat|enm|gem-pro}}, {{der|enm|fro|-}} Old French Head templates: {{head|enm|nouns|g=|g2=|g3=|head=|sort=}} jape, {{enm-noun}} jape (plural japes)
  1. trick, deception, fraud, disastrous event
    Sense id: en-jape-enm-noun-LnTHpm~R
  2. delusion, magical or diabolical illusion
    Sense id: en-jape-enm-noun-vwqIgqoN
  3. false legend
    Sense id: en-jape-enm-noun-2MTf9TTp
  4. joke; comic tale; amusement
    Sense id: en-jape-enm-noun-XGe3OpPC
  5. trifling matter
    Sense id: en-jape-enm-noun-ZlgOcNhR
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "gem-pro"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "dercat"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "japes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "iape",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "head": "",
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      "expansion": "jape",
      "name": "head"
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    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "jape (plural japes)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "trick, deception, fraud, disastrous event"
      ],
      "id": "en-jape-enm-noun-LnTHpm~R",
      "links": [
        [
          "trick",
          "trick"
        ],
        [
          "deception",
          "deception"
        ],
        [
          "fraud",
          "fraud"
        ],
        [
          "disastrous",
          "disastrous"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "delusion, magical or diabolical illusion"
      ],
      "id": "en-jape-enm-noun-vwqIgqoN",
      "links": [
        [
          "delusion",
          "delusion"
        ],
        [
          "magical",
          "magical"
        ],
        [
          "diabolical",
          "diabolical"
        ],
        [
          "illusion",
          "illusion"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "false legend"
      ],
      "id": "en-jape-enm-noun-2MTf9TTp",
      "links": [
        [
          "false",
          "false"
        ],
        [
          "legend",
          "legend"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              37,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Thow pardoner[…]Tel vs som myrthe or iapes right anon.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "joke; comic tale; amusement"
      ],
      "id": "en-jape-enm-noun-XGe3OpPC",
      "links": [
        [
          "joke",
          "joke"
        ],
        [
          "comic",
          "comic"
        ],
        [
          "tale",
          "tale"
        ],
        [
          "amusement",
          "amusement"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "trifling matter"
      ],
      "id": "en-jape-enm-noun-ZlgOcNhR",
      "links": [
        [
          "trifling",
          "trifling"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "jape"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English nouns",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "gem-pro"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "dercat"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "japes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "iape",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "2": "nouns",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "jape",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "jape (plural japes)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "trick, deception, fraud, disastrous event"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trick",
          "trick"
        ],
        [
          "deception",
          "deception"
        ],
        [
          "fraud",
          "fraud"
        ],
        [
          "disastrous",
          "disastrous"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "delusion, magical or diabolical illusion"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "delusion",
          "delusion"
        ],
        [
          "magical",
          "magical"
        ],
        [
          "diabolical",
          "diabolical"
        ],
        [
          "illusion",
          "illusion"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "false legend"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "false",
          "false"
        ],
        [
          "legend",
          "legend"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English terms with quotations",
        "Requests for translations of Middle English quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              37,
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            ]
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          "ref": "1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Thow pardoner[…]Tel vs som myrthe or iapes right anon.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "joke; comic tale; amusement"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "joke",
          "joke"
        ],
        [
          "comic",
          "comic"
        ],
        [
          "tale",
          "tale"
        ],
        [
          "amusement",
          "amusement"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "trifling matter"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trifling",
          "trifling"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "jape"
}

Download raw JSONL data for jape meaning in Middle English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (87ad358 and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.