joker
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: board-games
chess
games
government
military
politics
war
Etymology: From joke + -er, but in the sense of a playing card possibly by alteration of German Jucker, also the origin of the name of the card game euchre.
Base: joke
Affixes: -er
Inflected forms:
form: jokers
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A person who makes jokes.
pos: noun
gloss: A funny person.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: A jester.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: Something kept in reserve that can be used to gain an advantage; a trump card.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: Rebus decided to use their joker. 'Mr Lintz made a phone call to this office. He was talking for over twenty minutes.'
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.'
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.
gloss: An unspecified, vaguely disreputable person.
pos: noun
examples: Some joker keeps throwing eggs at my windows.
gloss: An unspecified, vaguely disreputable person.
pos: noun
examples: Don't waste your breath on these jokers round here.
gloss: A man.
pos: noun
tags: New-Zealand
colloquial
gloss: A clause in a contract that undermines its apparent provisions.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Then, sir, on page 12 of the agreement there is a joker clause, which provides for payments in addition to the ten per cent, […]
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.
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.
gloss: A friendly unit that acts as a suspected hostile unit in a military excercise.
pos: noun
examples: Joker - A friendly track or contact acting as a "suspect" track for exercise purposes only. (STANAG 1241)
gloss: The option, in a pub quiz, of selecting one particular round in which one's team will score double points.
pos: noun
examples: We used our joker as soon as the topic of sports was announced, since we are sport experts.
gloss: A fairy chess piece that moves like the last piece that was moved by the opponent.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Synonyms: buffoon
clown
comedian
comic
cutup
funnyman
gagman
gagster
giber
humorist
jackpudding
joker
jokester
wag
wit
Related words: joke
🂿
🃏
🃟
life and soul of the party
life of the party
jest
witty
ridicule
Derived words: cosmic joker
joker in the pack
joker lap
practical joker
video joker
Translations: