Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - joke

~1 n 1 »STH FUNNY« something that you say or do to make people laugh, especially a funny story or trick  (Do you know any good jokes? | Don't get mad - it was only a joke! | crack/make a joke (=say something funny) | tell a joke (=tell a short funny story) | get the joke informal (=understand why a joke is funny) | play a joke on sb (=trick them) | dirty joke (=about sex) | sick joke (=about something unpleasant) | have a joke (=not mean something seriously))  (I was only having a joke!) 2 »STH ANNOYING« informal a situation which is so silly or unreasonable that it makes you angry  (The whole meeting was a complete joke.) 3 go/get beyond a joke a situation that gets beyond a joke has become serious and worrying  (I haven't heard from them for three weeks now - it's gone beyond a joke.) 4 be no joke used to emphasize that a situation is serious or that someone really means what they say  (These rail strikes every week are no joke. | it's no joke)  (It's no joke, I think she really means to kill herself.) 5 take a joke to be able to laugh at a joke about yourself  (Your problem is you just can't take a joke!) 6 make a joke of to treat something serious as if it was intended to be funny  (Sure, he made a joke of it but he was clearly hurt.) 7 not get the joke to not understand why someone thinks a situation is funny  ("Is that a proposition?" I asked, but she didn't get the joke.) 8 sb's idea of a joke spoken a situation that someone else thinks is funny but you do not  (I suppose hiding the car key was his idea of a joke.) 9 the joke's on you/her etc used to say that the person who was trying to make other people seem silly now seems silly themselves  (- see also in­joke, practical joke, standing joke standing1 (4)) ~2 v 1 to say things that are intended to be funny + about/with  (It's serious, Donny, don't joke about it!) 2 you're joking!/you must be joking! spoken used to tell someone that what they are suggesting is so strange or silly that you cannot believe that they are serious  (What! Buy a house on my salary? You must be joking!) 3 only joking BrE spoken used to say that you did not really mean what you just said  (Only joking, darling - I love you really!) 4 joking apart/aside BrE used before you say something serious after you have been joking  (Joking apart, she is a very talented painter.) - jokingly adv