1878 F. H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 57 Be there anything in this..or aint it only one of them ‘joshes’ they get up in the Reveille sometimes?

1896 G. Ade Artie iii. 30 That ain't no josh, neither.

1902 O. Wister Virginian xvi. 188 What did he say to Trampas after..Trampas put the josh on him?

1904 E. Robins Magn. North viii. 141 Nobody but himself would be the wiser even if it was a josh.

1904 E. Robins Magn. North xvi. 276 ‘Minook's all right. No josh about that,’ she said.

1908 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock iii. 40 First, I sat there chuckling, but by and by I began to forget the josh end of it I had joined [the union] for, and to remember my own grievances against the house.

1909 S. E. White Rules of Game iii. xiii. 215 Perhaps all this monkey business was one elaborate josh.

1948 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 12 June 19/1 We found him tired-eyed and peaked,..not a man for josh and chatter.

1959 J. Thurber Years with Ross ii. 20 I shall spare you the New Yorker's prospectus, drawn up in..1924, except for..‘There will be a personal mention column... This will contain some josh.’

1852 Lantern (N.Y.) 1 199/2 The squint eyed chap's been jossin' ye.

1891 Cent. Mag. Nov. 63 ‘Oh go away..I fear that you are joshing me’.

1895 Weekly Examiner (San Francisco) 19 Sept. 4/2 The boys joshed Mr. Durrant some about it.

1921 P. G. Wodehouse Indiscretions of Archie vi. 54 Are you trying to josh me?

1927 J. Devanny Old Savage 30 They jossed him in the usual way about his proverbial amours.

1940 L. A. G. Strong Sun on Water 58 Though every now and then she'd remember and clap a hand to her mouth, we'd soon josh her out of it.

1950 C. M. Kornbluth in D. Knight 100 Years Sci. Fiction (1969) 249 A humorous sergeant, the Mindworm was pleased to note, joshed the loafer out of his temper.

1972 P. H. Kocher Master of Middle-Earth (1973) v. 107 When Pippin and Merry are reunited with their comrades..Gimli joshes them over and over as ‘truants’ who had to be rescued.

1845 St. Louis Reveille 19 Apr. 2/4 Look out in future, and if you must Josh, why, give a private one.

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 185 He..liked nothing better than to..chin and josh [note, chat and joke] with them in his funereal fashion.

1905 Amer. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 214 I was jus' joshin', mother, 'cause I 'spect all your plans are made.

1958 J. G. MacGregor North-West of 16 xiv. 195 Each, according to his outlook on life, grumbled or whined, laughed or ‘joshed’.

1963 Guardian 25 Jan. 9/4 The bearded Alberts tootle and joss with a goon-like ebullience.

1966 J. Dos Passos Best Times (1968) i. 13 I'd huddle in acute misery while he joshed with the waiters.

1899 F. Norris McTeague iv. 57 What a josher was this Marcus! Sure, you never could tell what he would do next.

1904 New York Sun 21 Aug. 10 Others said that Mr. Taggart had turned out to be a josher and a jollier.

1908 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock vi. 113 Quite a josher, Mr. Wilkins was, but always the gentleman.

1924 P. G. Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror xvii. 273 Miss Stryker formally stamped him with the seal of her approval as ‘a good kid’. And..it is but a step from being a good kid to being..a great old josher.

1966 H. Marriott Cariboo Cowboy viii. 75 This P.G.E., or ‘Please Go Easy’ as some smart joshers called it, started its way at Squamish on Howe Sound.

1864 in Ohio Arch. & Hist. Q. LII. 175 The Bay was rough; thirty minutes out and the boys began to get sick. There was a good deal of joshing.

1908 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock xi. 296 There was no joshing and making ridiculous the honest Long Island landscape.

1909 R. A. Wason Happy Hawkins xxii. 263 Dick was smilin' now..an' makin' funny, joshin' remarks.

1910 ‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business xviii. 221 Cut that joshing out... Who do you think you are talking to?

1918 Liberator (N.Y.) Oct. 7/2 The neighbors do a little joshing first... Make out your will, Henry? and so on.

1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 25 Mar. 4/3 Indifference is blazingly conspicuous by the small audiences that attend pre-election meetings; also the joshing manner in which the electors speak to and about the candidates.

1948 V. Palmer Golconda xi. 85 It was only Donovan's energy and easy joshing that carried the day with them.

1959 J. Thurber Years with Ross ii. 21 The intramural joshing turns up everywhere in the crumbling documents.

1970 B. Spock Decent & Indecent 18 There has been a trend in social gatherings to substitute loud joshing and playful insults for conversation.

1972 P. Dickinson Lizard in Cup xi. 172 Buck maintained his peculiar brand of joshing bonhomie.

1957 V. Palmer Seedtime 122 Donovan had said joshingly to the..conductor..‘Well, how's this strike of yours going?’