About
Banter
1. To address playful good-natured ridicule to, — the person addressed, or something pertaining to him, being the subject of the jesting; to rally; as, he bantered me about my credulity.
Hag-ridden by my own fancy all night, and then bantered on my haggard looks the next day. –W. Irving.
2. To jest about; to ridicule in speaking of, as some trait, habit, characteristic, and the like. [Archaic]
If they banter your regularity, order, and love of study, banter in return their neglect of them. –Chatham.
3. To delude or trick, — esp. by way of jest. [Obs.]
We diverted ourselves with bantering several poor scholars with hopes of being at least his lordship’s chaplain. –De Foe.
4. To challenge or defy to a match. [Colloq. Southern and Western U.S.]
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
