banter (banter)

[ When wit has any mixture of raillery, it is but calling it banter and the work is done. Swift , Tale of a Tub, Author's Apol Mr. Adams made his contribution to the service of the table in the form of that good-humored, easy banter which makes a dinner of herbs more digestible than a stalled ox without it. Josiah Quincy , Figures of the Past, p. 62. 2. A challenge to a match or contest; the match or contest itself. [Southern and western U. S.] 1. One who banters banterer (ban'tér-ér), n. or a ails with good-humored jests or pleasantry.-2. One who cheats or bamboozles. [Archaic.] His dre , his gait, his accent, marked him out as an excellent subject for the operations of swindlers and banterers. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. bantery (ban'tèr-i), a. Full of banter or good humored raillery. Carlyle.