- jester (n.)
- mid-14c., gestour, jestour "a minstrel, professional reciter of romances," agent noun from gesten "recite a tale" (a jester's original function), from geste "action, exploit" (see jest (n.)). Sense of "buffoon in a prince's court" is from c. 1500. Sterne (1759) uses jestee, but it is rare.
