1JOKEsomething that you say or do to make people laugh, especially a funnystory or trick 笑话;玩笑
joke about
a joke about absent-minded professors
关于糊涂教授的一个笑话
I couldn’t go out with someone for a joke, could you?
我可不能拿谈恋爱当儿戏,对不对?
2be a jokeinformalSTUPID/NOT SENSIBLE to be completely useless, stupid, or unreasonable 简直是在开玩笑;完全是一场闹剧
The whole meeting was a joke.
整个会议完全是一场闹剧。
Examples from the Corpus
be a joke• I wasn't entirely sure whether he was joking or not.• Nerf Herder is a jokeband.• Some of this is very serious, and some of it is joking around.• When women do confrontsexism, the glibreply is often that it is a joke.• It is a joke and I told Wilkinson so.• The Window Rock TribalJailis a joke to criminals and police officials alike.• Here two young men were joking with a gun.• Well, there are jokes about yeastinfections, frostbite, livertransplants and cerealvarietypacks.
3go/get/be beyond a jokeSERIOUS SITUATIONa situation that has got beyond a joke has become serious and worrying 〔情况〕超出开玩笑的限度
This rain’s getting beyond a joke – let’s go inside.
4something is no jokeSERIOUS SITUATIONused to emphasize that a situation is serious or that someone really means what they say 某事并非开玩笑〔用来强调情况严重或某人说的话是认真的〕
The risk he’s taking is no joke.
他冒的这个险非同小可。
It’s no joke bringing up a child on your own.
独自抚养小孩可不是好玩的事情。
Examples from the Corpus
something is no joke• These bills are no joke.• Pneumoniais no joke, you know.• Now that is no joke because one of these big old saws can weigh the best part of half a ton.• Especially where alcohol is concerned, this is no joke at all-as the men from Rutgers ably demonstrated in the 1970s.• This is no joke, Guy.• This is no joke, mister, it's for real.• The bike fell on him, tearing his Achilles tendon, which is no joke at all.
5somebody can take a jokeFUNNYused to say that someone is able to laugh at jokes about themselves 某人开得起玩笑
Your problem is you just can’t take a joke.
你的问题就是开不起玩笑。
6make a joke (out) of somethingJOKEto treat something serious as if it was intended to be funny 拿〔严肃的事〕开玩笑
He could not bring himself to apologise. Instead, he tried to make a joke of it.
他没法开口道歉,就想拿这件事情开个玩笑蒙混过去。
Examples from the Corpus
make a joke (out) of something• My mother always makes a joke of everything.• I'd made a joke of it.• He makes a joke of the injury because, at 59, it is an inconvenience rather than a disaster.• You had your own reasons for making the call, and why not make a joke out of it?• That readiness to make a joke of life had been temporarily eclipsed.• We made a joke of it, the way Charles always came loaded with books on some new subject.
7somebody’s idea of a jokespokenJOKE a situation that someone else thinks is funny but you do not 某人觉得好玩的事〔但你本人却并不这么认为〕
Look, if this is your idea of a joke, I don’t find it at all funny.
8.the joke’s on somebodyJOKEused to say that something has happened to make someone seem stupid, especially when they were trying to make other people seem stupid 开玩笑反而开到自己身上了;作弄别人反而作弄到自己身上
wisecrack a funny remark or reply, especially one that is said in a very quick and clever way
It’s a comic masterpiece, packed with classic wisecracks.
pun (also play on words) a joke made by mixing up two different meanings of the same word, or two words with the same sound
a pun on the words ‘bear’ and ‘bare’
The title of the book is a witty play on words.
Shakespeare used a lot of puns for comic effect.
quip written something funny and clever that someone says
He made some friendly quip about hair loss, and everyone laughed.
Examples from the Corpus
joke• It is much too risky at the start of an interaction to make a joke about the other person.• We didn't mean to frighten you. It was only a joke.• I can take a joke as well as anyone, but this isn't funny, it's embarrassing.• It's a good idea to start a speech by telling a joke.• And that was a joke, because I was half-dead with worry myself.• What a joke that meeting was.• Leno opened the show with a joke about the election.• But he is rescued, along with others, and the wholeterrifyingordeal, he discovers, becomes a bigjoke.• In some situations, a dirtyjoke can be consideredsexualharassment.• They may even have a few jokes of their own.• Do you want to hear a good joke?• Have you heard any good jokes lately?• Inside the parcel there was an emptybottle. "Is this some kind of joke?'' he asked.• The two girls were whispering in the corner and giggling over some privatejoke.• You're given comedy and miss all the jokes.• It wasn't that I didn't get the joke - I just didn't think it was funny.• Everyone laughed except Mr Broadbent, who didn't see the joke.• The joke goes on to say that every night is Wednesday!• Wilson spoke for about 15 minutes, peppering his mainly seriousmessage with jokes.
for a joke• Mulcahey searched his brainfor a joke, but there was only a translucent blankness.• One day some streetcowboysthrew an uncharged hand grenade at him for a joke.• The ReverendGeorge Whitefield was not a man for jokes.• Not entirely sober one evening in 1832, Turnerentered a Preston temperance meeting for a joke but came out converted.• She was in no moodfor jokes.• He was not in the mood for jokes.• I talk to him like that more for joke than anything else.
joke2 ●●●S3 verb [intransitiveI]
1SERIOUS/NOT JOKINGto say things that are intended to be funny and that you do not really mean 说笑话;开玩笑
joke about
I never joke about money.
我从不拿钱开玩笑。
joke with
As we left the hospital, he joked with the staff.
我们离开医院时,他和医务人员开着玩笑。
joke that
His father joked that his son was trying to put him out of business.
他父亲开玩笑说他儿子想要他破产。
Calm down, Jo, I was only joking.
乔,别生气,我不过是开玩笑。
2you’re joking/you must be joking (also you’ve got to be joking) spokenNO used to tell someone that what they are suggesting is so strange or silly that you cannot believe that they are serious 你(一定)是在开玩笑吧〔用来表示某人的话很奇怪或愚蠢,你无法相信他们是认真的〕
‘Tell him.’ ‘You must be joking – he’d never believe me.’
“告诉他。” “你一定是在开玩笑吧,他绝不会相信我的。
3.joking apart/asideBritish EnglishBrESERIOUS/NOT JOKING used before you say something serious after you have been joking 言归正传,说正经的〔用来表示停止开玩笑,开始说严肃的事〕
Examples from the Corpus
joking apart/aside• Peterjoking apart have the tories done themselves any good this week?
—jokinglyadverbadv
Examples from the Corpus
joke• A group of teenagers were standing at the corner, laughing and joking.• I must tell Philippa that I was joking.• Though Cosby joked about it, Ennis' school performance in those years was anything but funny offstage.• When he was a kid he was embarrassed about his height, but now he can joke about it.• Some one joked about opening a tranquilizer concession.• Now he was joking about the rumours of his marriage.• They're a good class to teach. You can joke and have a laugh with them.• Well, okay, he joked, his voicesmooth as glass.• Armed with his BumperFunBook, the minister of Dunlop joked his way around the world at variousfunctions.• I was unresponsive and kept joking with him about it - but I made it clear I wasn't interested.
only joking• At the time, she was only joking.• Of course, Fagan was only joking about not having Chaffee back next year.• Bill Shankly was only joking when he said football was more important than life and death.