reparteen.
/ˌrɛpɑːˈtiː/, U.S. /ˌrɛˌpɑrˈti/, /ˌrɛpərˈti/ 1. A witty or sharp reply; a quick, clever retort.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > [noun] > wit in answers > instance of
repartee1637
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > wit with words > [noun] > instance of
crank1594
wits, fits, and fancies1595
jerk1598
quirk1600
tongue-squib1628
dictery1632
repartee1637
quip1645
good thing1671
bon mot1735
a play on (also upon) words1761
sally1781
wordplay1794
southboarda1805
mot1813
smartism1830
1637 Abp. J. Williams Holy Table 157 Further in the Book, when Octavius comes to make his Repartee to all this, he saith, [etc.].
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ i. xvii. 35 He would passe by any thing with som repartie, som witty strain.
1673 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd II. 10 This reparty of Theodorus he recommends there for so ingenious.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 487. ¶4 The Grave abound in Pleasantries, the Dull in Repartees, and Points of Wit.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle I. xxx. 227 His mistress looked a little disconcerted at this blunt repartee.
1777 H. L. Thrale Diary June in Thraliana (1942) I. 81 Dr Goldsmith was greatly disconcerted by a smart Repartie.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe IV. vi. 463 The foolish alternation of repartees in a series of single lines, will never be found in Racine.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. Introd. 1 The smiling glances of pretty barmaids, and the repartees of jocose ostlers.
1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel xiv. 129 His Royal Highness had laughed until the tears streamed down his cheeks at Blakeney's foolish yet funny repartees.
1993 P. O'Brian Wine-dark Sea iv. 69 Some brisk repartees came into his mind.
2.
a. Conversation or speech characterized by witty or sharp replies, or by a good-humoured exchange of witty remarks; witty or sharp replies treated collectively. Also: the practice or faculty of making such replies.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > [noun] > wit in answers
repartee1668
reparteeinga1697
cross-talk1887
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > wit with words > [noun]
agnomination1574
paronymy1627
adnomination1628
wit-rack1642
repartee1668
snip-snap1727
persiflage1757
quippery1785
cross-talk1887
eutrapelia1956
1668 J. Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 41 As for Comedy, Repartee is one of its chiefest graces; the greatest pleasure of the Audience is a chase of wit kept up on both sides, and swiftly manag'd.
1671 J. Dryden Evening's Love Pref. As for repartie inparticular; as it is the very soul of conversation, so it is the greatest grace of Comedy.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 149 [To] speak by Repartee-rotines Out of the most authentic of Romances.
a1704 T. Brown Beauties to Armida in Wks. (1707) I. i. 65 Unite two Stocks to form the witty She, Dorinda's Sense, and Flavia's Repartee.
1765 O. Goldsmith Ess. xxvi. 231 Skill'd in no other arts was she, But dressing, patching, repartee.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. i. iii. 19 Nothing was so favourite a topic, as the extent of my rudeness, and the venom of my repartee.
1868 F. W. Farrar Seekers after God ii. v. 255 Tact and intelligence, and a power of swift repartee, are necessary to him.
1913 J. Hulbert in Granta 1 Mar. The wretched performers begin to make themselves heard once more..with some exceedingly subtle repartee as the following.
1972 J. Blish Star Trek 8 170 It seems that the Fabrini cure for granulation of the hemoglobin has seriously damaged your gift for witty repartee.
2003 New Yorker 8 Dec. 140/1 The bits of platoon-buddy repartee reminded one of a dozen Second World War movies.
b. An exchange of witticisms or sharp replies; a lively conversation.
ΚΠ
1677 T. D'Urfey Madam Fickle i. 6 Sir! I am very unskilful in a Repartee of this Nature.
1811 Mirror of Taste 4 26 Wilkinson was often in a repartee.
1868 H. James in Atlantic Monthly Apr. 463/2 We had a little repartee which makes our relationship somewhat ambiguous.
1906 Horticulture 29 Sept. 351/2 No humorist ever got the better of Peter Dooner in a repartee.
1969 T. Kochmann in Trans-action Feb. 27/2 Rapping between men and women often is competitive and leads to a lively repartee.
1990 S. W. Spanier in S. Donaldson New Ess. on Farewell to Arms iv. 88 They then engage in a repartee on the nature of bravery in a tone of half-mocking self-congratulation.
2008 Illawarra Mercury (Austral.) (Nexis) 24 Sept. 15 ‘The Hills District's alive with the working families,’ he sings in a repartee with nun Julia Gillard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
reparteev.
/ˌrɛpɑːˈtiː/, U.S. /ˌrɛˌpɑrˈti/, /ˌrɛpərˈti/ 1. † b. intransitive. With upon. To make witty or smart replies about a person. Obsolete. rare.
a. intransitive. To make witty or sharp replies; to engage in repartee. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > be witty [verb (intransitive)]
repartee1640
wit1654
sparkle1698
witticize1773
scintillate1828
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > [verb (intransitive)] > retort > wittily
taunta1529
repartee1640
1640 R. Flecknoe Affections of Pious Soule 21 In churlish and bitter speech they repartyed againe. If in soft and silken phrase he question'd them..they not vouchsaf'd him answer.
1668 J. Denham Poems 80 If wise thou wilt appear, and knowing, Repartie, Repartie To what I'm doing.
1677 T. D'Urfey Madam Fickle iv. 43 I am not so old, but I can Repertee as well as another, if occasion serve.
1710 Tatler No. 242. ⁋8 Replies, to which all the Malice in the World will not be able to repartee.
a1774 O. Goldsmith tr. P. Scarron Comic Romance (1775) II. iv. 32 Perceiving that he has not reparteed to what she has advanced.
1838 Fraser's Mag. 17 120 He punned not..like Theodore Hook; nor reparteed like George Colman.
1889 Times 22 Oct. 10/6 Supposing the North-Western were to repartee and invite the Board of Trade to put a stop to the dangerous competition.
1910 G. B. Shaw Let. 9 Dec. (1972) II. 957 I spent an hour and a half shouting, bullying..& reparteeing until I was as one in a Turkish bath.
2008 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 25 May (Stella) 54 She..knows the comic value of a timely pause or a comment sotto voce. But then she must have reparteed with the best of them.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > express wittily [verb (transitive)]
repartee1674
flesh1853
1674 E. Settle Notes on Empress of Morocco Rev. 85 Now to repartee upon him in his own-beloved style.
1713 R. Bentley Remarks Disc. Free-thinking I. (ed. 3) 67 The very Tuscan Haruspices were Free-thinkers; for no doubt they reparteed upon Cato, and thought as meanly of the Roman Divinations, as He did of Theirs.
2. transitive. To say as a quick retort; to say (a witty or sharp reply) in answer to an earlier remark. Frequently with direct speech as object. Formerly also with †upon.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)] > sharply
returna1500
reply1526
snap1550
pat1575
retort1597
regyre1606
regest1614
retaliate1632
snap1647
repartee1677
riposte1823
to shoot back1974
1677 A. L. tr. F. Poulain de la Barre Woman as Good as Man 183 If the same Question had been put to his Wife, she might have repartied with as much Reason; That [etc.].
1682 Nat. Hist. Coffee, Thee, Chocolate, Tobacco 30 We cannot but Repartee upon these Alamode Persons, that while they Worship so much only Foreign Creatures, they cannot but be wholly ignorant of those at home.
1686 F. Spence tr. A. Varillas Ἀνεκδοτα Ἑτερουιακα 13 Farganaccio reparteed, that he was only his treasurer.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 36. ⁋3 Autumn repartees; ‘People may give themselves Airs; but Other People, perhaps,..may be, perhaps, as agreeable as People who set themselves out more.’
1762 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. IX. 355 He..uttered this brutish sarcasm, ‘I trample upon the pride of Plato’; to which Plato wisely reparteed, ‘with greater pride.’
1846 ‘Proteus’ Social Infl. I. 235 Villiers alluded apologetically to his visit—‘Early dinner,’ Mr. Toper reparteed, with a smirk.
1887 M. Salmonson From Marriage License Window xi. 98 She laughs at the joke reparteeing with a wink of her eye that the days of such miracles have passed.
1939 J. Joyce Finnegans Wake i. 186 Sergo, search me, the incapable reparteed with a selfevitant subtlety.
1997 M. Keyes Rachel's Holiday lvi. 479 ‘Francie, you big pisshead,’ Misty reparteed, all delighted, smiling for the first time in almost a week. ‘Same as you.’
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > answer [verb (transitive)] > sharply > with repartee
repartee1677
1677 T. Rawlins Tom Essence iv. iii. 48 The Baggage laid out nothing but a box o'th'Ear; but I had reparteed it, had not you staid my hand.
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 72 If Pits had been so Ironically against Bale, he had been deservedly reparteed with his Plagiary Shifts.
1728 Mem. Eng. Officer 23 A Piece of Raillery of Monsieur Calvo, which was as handsomely repartee'd.
Derivatives
reparˈteeing n. rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > answer > [noun] > wit in answers
repartee1668
reparteeinga1697
cross-talk1887
a1697 J. Aubrey Lives Innocent Men in J. Walker Lett. Eminent Persons (1813) II. 545 He was incomparably readie at repartying and his witt most sparkling when most sett upon and provoked.
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xx. 90 There would be so much..scoffing and flouting, with raillying and reparteeing of it.
1912 R. Hughes Miss 318 & Mr. 37 iv. 40 I can do a little reparteeing with anybody that thinks he can jolly me along.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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