Jest n.
 1.  A deed; an action; a gest. [Obs.]
    The jests or actions of princes.   --Sir T. Elyot.
 2.  A mask; a pageant; an interlude. [Obs.]
 He promised us, in honor of our guest,
 To grace our banquet with some pompous jest.   --Kyd.
 3.  Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under Jest, v. i.
    I must be sad . . . smile at no man's jests.   --Shak.
    The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.   --Sheridan.
 4.  The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock.
    Then let me be your jest; I deserve it.   --Shak.
 In jest, for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest.
    And given in earnest what I begged in jest.   --Shak.
 -- Jest book, a book containing a collection of jests, jokes, and amusing anecdotes; a Joe Miller.