From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
banter
n : light teasing repartee [syn: raillery, give-and-take,
backchat]
v : be silly or tease one another; "After we relaxed, we just
kidded around" [syn: kid, chaff, jolly, josh]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Banter \Ban"ter\, n.
The act of bantering; joking or jesting; humorous or
good-humored raillery; pleasantry.
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Part banter, part affection. --Tennyson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Banter \Ban"ter\ (b[a^]n"t[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bantered
(b[a^]n"t[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Bantering.] [Prob.
corrupted fr. F. badiner to joke, or perh. fr. E. bandy to
beat to and fro. See Badinage, and cf. Barter fr. OF.
barater.]
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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.
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Hag-ridden by my own fancy all night, and then
bantered on my haggard looks the next day. --W.
Irving.
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2. To jest about; to ridicule in speaking of, as some trait,
habit, characteristic, and the like. [Archaic]
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If they banter your regularity, order, and love of
study, banter in return their neglect of them.
--Chatham.
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3. To delude or trick, -- esp. by way of jest. [Obs.]
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We diverted ourselves with bantering several poor
scholars with hopes of being at least his lordship's
chaplain. --De Foe.
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4. To challenge or defy to a match. [Colloq. Southern and
Western U. S.]
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