joker
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈd͡ʒəʊkə/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒoʊkɚ/
rhymes: -əʊkə(ɹ)
Forms: form: jokers
Etymology: From joke + -er, but in the sense of a playing card possibly by alteration of Jucker, also the origin of the name of the card game euchre.
Senses: glosses: A person who makes jokes.
glosses: A funny person.
synonyms: court jester
fool
jester
glosses: A jester.
glosses: A playing card that features a picture of a joker (that is, a jester) and that may be used as a wild card in some card games.
examples: text: Rebus decided to use their joker. 'Mr Lintz made a phone call to this office. He was talking for over twenty minutes.'
ref: 2008 September 18, Ian Rankin, The Hanging Garden: The #1 bestselling series that inspired BBC One’s REBUS, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
text: Tash Wilson played her 'joker' , pulling her chair so close our legs were almost touching. 'Hey, Chris, do you want to go out sometime? All you've got to do is say the word.'
ref: 2012 January 1, Simon Packham, Silenced, Bonnier Publishing Fiction Ltd., →ISBN:
text: The director made me understand that my bubble of stardom could burst just as soon as it had been inflated if I didn't watch my attitude. Then he used his joker. I had an understudy so if I messed up or tried to create a scene, I would be summarily replaced.
ref: 2016 October 17, Dipo Adesida, My French Teacher Had an Igbo Accent: An Inspiring Collection of Memories, Memoirs and Mischiefs, Partridge Africa, →ISBN:
glosses: Something kept in reserve that can be used to gain an advantage; a trump card.
examples: text: Some joker keeps throwing eggs at my windows.
synonyms: clown
glosses: An unspecified, vaguely disreputable person.
examples: text: Don't waste your breath on these jokers round here.
synonyms: clown
glosses: An unspecified, vaguely disreputable person.
A loser.
glosses: A man.
examples: text: Discussion of contracts and the many provisions contained therein led to a vote making it the sense of the convention that manufacturers should use a simple sales contract, free from jokers.
ref: 1922, Farm Machinery and Equipment, page lxxxiii:
text: Then, sir, on page 12 of the agreement there is a joker clause, which provides for payments in addition to the ten per cent, […]
ref: 1939, Canadian Parliament, Official Report of Debates, House of Commons, volume 218, page 858:
text: Stone claimed that there was a Joker in the contract, one clause (No. 2) calling for two weeks' notice and another (No. 8) calling for payment on a par-day basis after the first two weeks.
ref: 1942, Billboard, volume 54, number 41, page 5:
text: The object of these provisions is to prevent insertion of "jokers" or "sleepers" in bills and securing passage under the false color of the title.
ref: 1958, Duncan Leroy Kennedy, Bill drafting, page 12:
glosses: A clause in a contract that undermines its apparent provisions.
examples: text: Joker - A friendly track or contact acting as a "suspect" track for exercise purposes only. (STANAG 1241)
ref: 1998, APP-6A: Military Symbols for Land-Based Systems, page 9:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A friendly unit that acts as a suspected hostile unit in a military excercise.
examples: text: We used our joker as soon as the topic of sports was announced, since we are sport experts.
glosses: The option, in a pub quiz, of selecting one particular round in which one's team will score double points.
examples: text: The problem is that it would be difficult to use a joker offensively since you could never know how it was going to move, meaning it’d be most useful setting it up for potential queen/rook captures to disincentivize your opponent from moving those pieces.
ref: 2018 October 12, aabicus, “My 7 Favorite Fairy Chess Pieces”, in The Daily SPUF:
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: A fairy chess piece that moves like the last piece that was moved by the opponent.
Synonyms: word: buffoon
word: clown
word: comedian
word: comic
word: cutup
word: funnyman
word: gagman
word: gagster
word: giber
word: humorist
word: jackpudding
word: joker
word: jokester
word: wag
word: wit
Hypernyms: word: person
Hyponyms: word: bel esprit
word: buffo
word: burlesquer
word: caricaturist
word: droll
word: epigrammatist
word: fool
word: gagwriter
word: idiot
word: ironist
word: jokesmith
word: lampooner
word: madcap
word: parodist
word: pasquinader
word: prankster
word: punner
word: punster
word: quipster
word: satirist
word: wiseacre
word: wisecracker
word: wit-cracker
Derived terms: cosmic joker
joker in the pack
joker lap
practical joker
video joker
Related terms: word: joke
word: 🂿
word: 🃏
word: 🃟
word: life and soul of the party
word: life of the party
word: jest
word: witty
word: ridicule