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banter
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  • F-R-E-E. The screen went blank, with none of the friendly banter that had magically appeared every time he'd watched Jen.†   (source)
  • Joe and the men bantered lightheartedly, as if all of them really believed the checks were good.†   (source)
  • People bantered and smiled, thanked you, made polite requests, chatted about early visits or the weather or where they were headed.†   (source)
  • Arthur picked up the banter.†   (source)
  • And the bedroom scene is so lovely—it's worth reading through all of their ceaseless banter!†   (source)
  • Lord Nestor ignored the banter.†   (source)
  • She rummaged through loose papers and makeup, so focused on her search that she didn't realize the banter between Drew and Courtney-or anyone else, for that matter-had fallen silent.†   (source)
  • No banter.†   (source)
  • The corporals' banter was continuing.†   (source)
  • As I trail off, I hear them making one another laugh—not the words exactly, but the cadence, the rising and falling pitches of banter.†   (source)
  • She, too, worked six days a week in the store and people often came in just to hear her jokes and banter.†   (source)
  • If An Yi and I teased or bantered while we studied together, Grandma would say, "Don't be naughty, girls.†   (source)
  • The banter they'd developed, full of his exasperation and her one-liners, was entertaining to anyone who overheard it.†   (source)
  • It was banter, as always, but now there was too much truth behind it.†   (source)
  • This lighthearted banter is all very amusing, but reality will prove otherwise.†   (source)
  • They were too quick with their banter; they held hands as if afraid to let go.†   (source)
  • Banter!†   (source)
  • "Perhaps to understand this we should search every prison and dungeon until we find the woman," bantered Eragon.†   (source)
  • The green light of the forest was strangely at odds with the adolescent laughter, too murky and ominous to be in harmony with the light banter around me.†   (source)
  • She laughed, and while their familiar banter put me momentarily outside their circle of intimacy, all was forgotten when Savannah looped her arm through mine on our way back toward the car.†   (source)
  • I get the feeling their banter is for my benefit, so that I don't have to say anything; I can just laugh.†   (source)
  • "What's the matter?" his father asked, voice light and bantering now, the same kind of voice he used with Adam's mother during her bad times.†   (source)
  • I snuck a look at Deoch as he bantered with someone at the door.†   (source)
  • As Mack ate, he listened to the banter between the three.†   (source)
  • Down the hall we could hear him enter another exam room and boisterously greet an expectant mother with jolly banter.†   (source)
  • Now she'd catch him smiling and laughing and bantering with other kids in the halls and, in general, playing Big Man on Campus.†   (source)
  • Will and Nico sat shoulder to shoulder, bantering good-naturedly.†   (source)
  • This is hardly the time for idle banter.†   (source)
  • Sometime that evening, after they had given up the battle with Arholma's notorious mosquitoes and moved down to the cabin, and after quite a few shots of aquavit, the conversation turned to friendly banter about ethics in the corporate world.†   (source)
  • Already Abby and Jordan had moved on to happy, relaxed banter, and just like that, Dan was an outsider looking in.†   (source)
  • Assuming that the rest of his team would be appearing shortly, Beidleman snapped some photos, bantered with Boukreev, and sat down to wait.†   (source)
  • And Jessica heard the true-banter in his voice, she allowed herself a faint hope.†   (source)
  • When the subject of whether the dog smells comes up, for example, Bill and Sue banter back and forth happily, both with a half smile on their lips.†   (source)
  • I edged in beside her and stood awkwardly while she bantered back and forth with him.†   (source)
  • They answered his bantering remarks reluctantly.†   (source)
  • "Hope you left the other guy in worse shape," he said, and she imagined that he might say this same thing to the patients who came through his office: small talk, banter, empty words as a distraction from the work he was doing.†   (source)
  • But I must say this business of bantering is not a duty I feel I can ever discharge with enthusiasm.†   (source)
  • I recalled that the commanding officer had recently said to me in a bantering way, "Mandela, you ought to retire to the Transkei and take a good long rest."†   (source)
  • Yet here she is in war-torn Congo, speaking excellent Swahili and bantering with her new friends who grew up in the Congolese bush.†   (source)
  • He'd be sucked in immediately, first by the happy, forced banter between the host and the gadget designer, then by the demonstration, followed by the bonus gifts, just for ordering Right Now, by which point he was already digging out his credit card with one hand as he dialed with the other.†   (source)
  • I have never found it so empty of banter.†   (source)
  • He knows them by name and is fond of bantering with them.†   (source)
  • Theresa was the one who loved to dance and joke and banter with them and could keep a party going.†   (source)
  • The baby dozed in the shade, while Clara and Augustus bantered.†   (source)
  • Their banter might be hilarious were it not so confounding and, often, scary.†   (source)
  • "I guess-if that's the word for it," she says, and the other girls laugh, but warmly, which surprises Cedric, and he tries to turn it all into banter: "Don't you girls be teasing my accent."†   (source)
  • I had forgotten about the pleasures of college radio, the exquisite randomness of what got played, the twenty-minute between-songs banter of nineteen-yearolds, the smack of music I'd never heard against my brain cavity.†   (source)
  • They sauntered on down route 6, stopping frequently to examine the cars, gesticulating, bantering each other about the best way to burglarize a shack that, as Guitar said, "didn't have a door or window with a lock."†   (source)
  • Of evenings he would sit on the porch in his broad, rush-bottomed chair, the big yellow cat on his knees, and smoke his pipe and, if he cared to do so, banter unkindly with the girls on the steps.†   (source)
  • On the journey she'd listened to the banter between him and Grace with a kind of amused serenity.†   (source)
  • The girls disrobed at once, pausing in different stages to point proudly to their garish underthings and bantering all the while with the gaunt and dissipated old man with the shabby long white hair and slovenly white unbuttoned shirt who sat cackling lasciviously in a musty blue armchair almost in the exact center of the room and bade Nately and his companions welcome with a mirthful and sardonic formality.†   (source)
  • Suddenly, civilians clustered in coffee shops and gathered around water coolers were bantering expertly, tossing off terms such as "Green Beach,"†   (source)
  • Isaiah and Beth were bantering back and forth, giving our conversation some privacy.†   (source)
  • But underneath all the bright banter, I still feel wounded by that whole episode.†   (source)
  • When the time came for the meat course, Louisa Smith did the carving while the President made his contribution in the form of "good-humored, easy banter."†   (source)
  • I'd call it banter, but it's really not, since my contribution is nothing more than pointed looks and hand gestures, and even those are few and far between.†   (source)
  • There was none of the meaningless banter he'd become used to, and this made him uneasy.†   (source)
  • Not once, however, had he been able to listen to anything of substance; whenever he had picked up the phone, serious conversation had been replaced by innocuous banter.†   (source)
  • Now you're arguing politics," the first voice said banteringly.†   (source)
  • Only one river may know its contents WOMEN We shall all meet at the great market We shall all meet at the great market He who goes early takes the best bargains But we shall meet, and resume our banter.†   (source)
  • And she sees only him, despite the banter and pleasantries exchanged all around and between them.†   (source)
  • There is none of Rogelio's easy manner, none of his usual bantering or joking.†   (source)
  • Finally, after a half hour of worthless banter from the judge, I heard the words I'd been waiting for.†   (source)
  • Yet he continued, with just that sort of relentless bantering she seemed to attract from men who were married; until finally, happily, it did begin to seem almost all right, what had happened.†   (source)
  • "So tell us the story," the suits say after a few minutes of banter and schmooze, and the writer gulps and jumps in.†   (source)
  • I had quit joking completely; the lines of endless banter ceased when there was nothing funny to say, nothing at all.†   (source)
  • The usual pre-tip banter ensued, with its many offers of additional assistance, but a crisp twenty-dollar bill sent the porter gratefully toward the door.†   (source)
  • She handed them to me, took my bill and gave me change with no sign of recognition, none of the banter of previous days.†   (source)
  • The following banter, for instance (an exchange which twenty years later would have been unthinkable), caused Leslie to pat her lovely jersey-clad thighs in merriment.†   (source)
  • Behind the Supervisor's banter he had recognized the note of understanding, perhaps-who could tell?†   (source)
  • She exchanged humorous banter with him, asked whether he had eaten already, and whether it was true that the Samanas slept alone in the forest at night and were not allowed to have any women with them.†   (source)
  • The gate was not yet ready and drivers were getting down and gathering at the Salvation Army booth under the skirts ot the Goddess of Liberty, for a cup of coffee and some banter.†   (source)
  • They drank tea and smoked and talked in loud bantering voices about the Mujahideen's plan.†   (source)
  • Now we're getting somewhere," she bantered.†   (source)
  • "Hey, Martin," Fischer bantered think you can summit Mount Everest?"†   (source)
  • He held her gaze as they bantered, noting that she was prettier than he remembered.†   (source)
  • Mom came into the foyer as I bantered with him and shook her head.†   (source)
  • She enjoys hearing her name and how easily her husband banters with the crowd.†   (source)
  • Listening to them now, I can hear them exchanging one bantering remark after another.†   (source)
  • Jake didn't intend to spend any time bantering about women with Gus.†   (source)
  • But, then, I rather fancy it has more to do with this skill of bantering.†   (source)
  • Perhaps it is indeed time I began to look at this whole matter of bantering more enthusiastically.†   (source)
  • Later, as he saw me to the door, he joked and bantered with such easy grace that I did not fully realize until I got home that in the course of saying good-bye he had borrowed twenty dollars from me.†   (source)
  • He sensed the feeling of humor around him, something bantering in it, and his mind linked up a prescient memory: watercounters offered to a woman—courtship ritual.†   (source)
  • The tone of their conversation had been light, bantering, but Archie knew that Emile was deadly serious underneath.†   (source)
  • We bantered like that till Hoquiam, still arguing over the correct formula to determine age—I lost two more years because I didn't know how to change a tire, but gained one back for being in charge of the bookkeeping at my house—until we were in Checker, and Jacob had to concentrate again.†   (source)
  • I 'lowed you might get lost," bantered the young fellow, not offering to carry the packet as they trudged away side by side.†   (source)
  • Short and stout, her hair bundled in a scarf, waving greetings to one person while bantering in rapid-fire English with another, Sakena is perpetually in motion.†   (source)
  • The seniors of R Company had gathered around me in a protective phalanx, enveloped me in the heart of the company, bantered with me all the way out to the field, and, in the way of the Corps, tried to make me forget for a time the events that had led to my imminent expulsion.†   (source)
  • They'd had a leisurely dinner, bantering with the wine steward and then enjoying a brandy at the bar with old acquaintances because there were old acquaintances wherever J. Edgar Hoover went, some who were loyal supporters, others residing in the files, a few who were enemies-for-life but didn't know it yet, and Edgar and Clyde were in a mellow enough mood, despite reports from the site, seated in the plush rear seat in black tie of course and wearing their masks, like a suave and jaunty crime fighter out of the Sunday comics, a master bureaucrat by day who becomes dashing Maskman at night, cruising the streets in formal dress with his trusted right-hand man.†   (source)
  • It occurs to me, furthermore, that bantering is hardly an unreasonable duty for an employer to expect a professional to perform.†   (source)
  • For one thing, how would one know for sure that at any given moment a response of the bantering sort is truly what is expected?†   (source)
  • One need hardly dwell on the catastrophic possibility of uttering a bantering remark only to discover it wholly inappropriate.†   (source)
  • It occurs to me now that the man might just possibly have meant this in a humorous sort of way; that is to say, he intended it as a bantering remark.†   (source)
  • I must say, I was rather disappointed, for I would like to have discussed the bantering question with him.†   (source)
  • That is to say, I have been endeavouring to add this skill to my professional armoury so as to fulfil with confidence all Mr Farraday's expectations with respect to bantering.†   (source)
  • It is all very well, in these changing times, to adapt one's work to take in duties not traditionally within one's realm; but bantering is of another dimension altogether.†   (source)
  • Over the following days, however, I came to learn not to be surprised by such remarks from my employer, and would smile in the correct manner whenever I detected the bantering tone in his voice.†   (source)
  • I have of course already devoted much time to developing my bantering skills, but it is possible I have never previously approached the task with the commitment I might have done.†   (source)
  • I was obliged, as I was saying, to spend some uncomfortable minutes standing in the drawing room yesterday afternoon while Mr Farraday went about his bantering.†   (source)
  • After all, when one thinks about it, it is not such a foolish thing to indulge in — particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth.†   (source)
  • It is quite possible, then, that my employer fully expects me to respond to his bantering in a like manner, and considers my failure to do so a form of negligence.†   (source)
  • I have been studying this programme because the witticisms performed on it are always in the best of taste and, to my mind, of a tone not at all out of keeping with the sort of bantering Mr Farraday might expect on my part.†   (source)
  • Indeed, to put things into a proper perspective, I should point out that just such bantering on my new employer's part has characterized much of our relationship over these months — though I must confess, I remain rather unsure as to how I should respond.†   (source)
  • As it happened, I had that same morning been giving thought to the dilemma of whether or not I was expected to reciprocate my employer's bantering, and had been seriously worried at how he might be viewing my repeated failure to respond to such openings.†   (source)
  • I could not see, then, how I might press on with this bantering; in fact, I decided it best to call a halt to the matter and, pretending to remember something I had urgently to attend to, excused myself, leaving my employer looking rather bemused.†   (source)
  • Knowing this to be his likely mood when I brought in the tea yesterday afternoon, and being aware of his general propensity to talk with me in a bantering tone at such moments, it would certainly have been wiser not to have mentioned Miss Kenton at all.†   (source)
  • I looked forward to the visit not only because visitors from Lord Darlington's days are most rare now — Mr Farraday's circle, naturally, being quite different from his lordship's — but also because I presumed Mr Graham would accompany Sir James as of old, and I would thus be able to get his opinion on this question of bantering.†   (source)
  • Embarrassing as those moments were for me, I would not wish to imply that I in any way blame Mr Farraday, who is in no sense an unkind person; he was, I am sure, merely enjoying the sort of bantering which in the United States, no doubt, is a sign of a good, friendly understanding between employer and employee, indulged in as a kind of affectionate sport.†   (source)
  • All eyes were on her, and the brotherly banter was relentless.†   (source)
  • "Not much for banter, are you?" she said, giving a brief, disappointed sigh.†   (source)
  • But he never laughed when they tried to banter with him, and they soon stopped trying.†   (source)
  • The labored banter of his friends was only making his head ache.†   (source)
  • "Unfortunately," the captain said, "this is not the time for banter.†   (source)
  • The sounds of male bonding and banter continued from the TV set.†   (source)
  • "I tried a little light banter with her once," Hedström said, again with a hint of a smile.†   (source)
  • Thoros of Myr paid no heed to the banter.†   (source)
  • Next came several minutes of usual campaign banter.†   (source)
  • Listening to their familiar banter, Gabby felt like a spectator.†   (source)
  • As the easy banter continued through dinner, I was conscious of everything about her.†   (source)
  • It was oddly pleasant, the banter between the brothers.†   (source)
  • We'll make our own," he said, surprised by the slightly sexy banter he was generating.†   (source)
  • I leaned against the counter and watched the three of them banter like a family.†   (source)
  • But there was a seriousness to their visit belied by all the humor and banter.†   (source)
  • At the end of the practice USC's two biggest stars, quarterback Matt Leinert and running back Reggie Bush, along with the entire USC offensive line, came over to Michael, surrounded him, and offered fulsome praise of Coach O. As he eavesdropped on their banter, Sean Senior noticed a pair of shocking facts: ( 1) Michael was bigger than all the USC linemen; and (2) Sean Junior had somehow wormed his way into the scrum, and was sidling up to Reggie Bush.†   (source)
  • Their banter began to relax me.†   (source)
  • As she walked with her head down, she caught bits of their banter, which seemingly always had to do with sick children or lazy, ungrateful husbands.†   (source)
  • It was Laila's turn now, with Mariam pitching in, to take up the chattering, to laugh nervously, to fill the melancholy quiet with breathless, aimless banter-Later, after Rasheed had dropped them off and taken a bus to work, Laila watched Aziza wave good-bye and scuff along the wall in the orphanage back lot.†   (source)
  • Then, slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, the quick banter between us gave way to more stilted conversation, punctuated by longer pauses.†   (source)
  • Well, Edgar is sitting in the aisle seat and he seems to be doing just fine, smiling at the rude banter that rolls nonstop from crooner to jokesmith to saloonkeeper and back.†   (source)
  • It was a shock, but at first no one said anything, instead just exchanging hellos and hugs and the basic how-was-the-trip banter.†   (source)
  • This was his favorite kind of evening, whiled away to the sound of shared laughter and familiar banter.†   (source)
  • He didn't relax into relieved banter the way Ian and Kyle did every time I completed another mission successfully.†   (source)
  • Arianne left them to their banter.†   (source)
  • You have not the means to hold us here much longer, and I refuse to exchange pointless banter with a traitor like yourself.†   (source)
  • She's not sure how she ended up here, but the light banter somehow brought her to the central issue of her future: will he leave forever?†   (source)
  • Most brides tried to return the banter, or at least pretended to enjoy it, but Roslin was stiff with terror, clutching the Greatjon as if she feared he might drop her.†   (source)
  • Their conversations were filled with their usual banter but it was somehow stilted at the same time, for he knew she wanted him to forgive himself.†   (source)
  • Instead of easy banter, we'd speak in platitudes and the magic would be gone, and I couldn't bear another discussion of the weather.†   (source)
  • It's homosexual banter.†   (source)
  • Throughout it all, JFK unwound, setting aside the cares of the office as he reveled in the easy banter of this lighthearted dinner and his practical joke.†   (source)
  • I entered the dressing room, steamy from the overworked radiators, noisy with the nervous banter of the team dressing.†   (source)
  • Gabby couldn't help thinking that he was very good at this sort of flirty banter—and then reminded herself that it was because he'd had a lot of practice.†   (source)
  • The two men casually banter as they are miked for sound and then sit quietly opposite each other as the final ten seconds before taping are counted down.†   (source)
  • For it may well be that in America, it is all part of what is considered good professional service that an employee provide entertaining banter.†   (source)
  • In fact, it is possible my bench companion of a while ago expected me to banter with him — in which case, I suppose I was something of a sorry disappointment.†   (source)
  • But at the same time, I cannot escape the feeling that Mr Farraday is not satisfied with my responses to his various banterings.†   (source)
  • He loved to tease, to banter lightly with all who crossed his path, and to mimic the supervisors who ruled him.†   (source)
  • When at last I break our silence and banteringly broach the possibility that she may be a victim of this malady, she seems not so much insulted as hurt, and softly begins to sob again.†   (source)
  • Under this ferocious banter, she sat breathing harder, and her mouth was disturbed.†   (source)
  • Because,' smiling Treasury turned him by the arm towards the sideboard and spoke banteringly, 'it never can be worth your while to come among us and help us.'†   (source)
  • He was a singular man in all respects; he might not have been quite in earnest, but that the short, hard, rapid manner in which he shot out these cinders of principles, as if it were done by mechanical revolvency, seemed irreconcilable with banter.†   (source)
  • Well, I gave up the light, bantering tone and let myself be just a little offensive.†   (source)
  • Eliza pursed her lips thoughtfully, made a bantering noise, and said: "Hm!†   (source)
  • "I really believe," she continued in a scolding, bantering whisper, "that you think of nothing.†   (source)
  • H'm!" said Eliza, with a bantering smile.†   (source)
  • "Hm-m!" she began, with a bantering smile, as she looked at Eugene.†   (source)
  • They sold coal by the ton and by the bag; they had stake trucks or dump trucks; they had to be convinced and sold, entertained, offered special deals, flattered, bantered, told secrets about the veins of the mines, made up with specious technical information about BTU's and ash percentages.†   (source)
  • I lost my brooch—my grandmother's brooch," said Minta with a sound of lamentation in her voice, and a suffusion in her large brown eyes, looking down, looking up, as she sat by Mr. Ramsay, which roused his chivalry so that he bantered her.†   (source)
  • They had a light, bantering tone.†   (source)
  • After the dull and exhausting months at Tara it was good to hear music again and the sound of dancing feet, good to see familiar friendly faces laughing in the feeble light, calling old jokes and catchwords, bantering, rallying, coquetting.†   (source)
  • His position was not much better than mine and I knew that he was uneasy and insecure; he had always treated me in an offhand, bantering way that barely concealed his contempt.†   (source)
  • Eliza began, with a tremulous bantering smile, "your head will get turned by all the things they're saying about you.†   (source)
  • About her own ventures she was insanely secretive; she would smile craftily when questioned about them, wink in a knowing fashion, and make a bantering noise in her throat.†   (source)
  • As he made to her his trembling passionate entreaties, she would smile with an affectation of patronizing humor, make a bantering humming noise in her throat, and say: "Why, say—you can't grow up yet.†   (source)
  • "Well, all eyes?" he bantered, suddenly staring at her.†   (source)
  • A bantering voice called out: 'Hello, are you Mr. Burden's folks?†   (source)
  • He shook his head in a bantering way, and regarded me with laughing eyes.†   (source)
  • Bo did not grasp her uncle's bantering, because she was seriously gazing at the cowboy.†   (source)
  • "Oh, don't you begin bantering him," said mamma.†   (source)
  • Anson gave him a surprised stare and suddenly lost the bantering tone.†   (source)
  • "You're probably just saying that," she laughed, a bantering look in her eyes.†   (source)
  • Encheiresin natures, this Chemistry names,
    Nor knows how herself she banters and blames!†   (source)
  • "Oh, I'm not going to separate the inseparables," he said in his usual bantering tone.†   (source)
  • FRANK [bantering her] Checks your strong natural propensity that way, don't it?†   (source)
  • He bantered her, telling what fine dresses and fine furniture they would have.†   (source)
  • But ere he entered his cabin, light, unnatural, half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was heard.†   (source)
  • Ned looked at me with a bantering expression.†   (source)
  • At times she seemed to feel that he regretted her presence, and always this fancy came to her with mocking or bantering suggestion that the costume and mask she wore made her a bandit's consort, and she could not escape the wildness of this gold-seeking life.†   (source)
  • In Princeton every one bantered in public and told themselves privately that their deaths at least would be heroic.†   (source)
  • But he did not have it in him to be angry with the love-master, and when that god elected to laugh at him in a good-natured, bantering way, he was nonplussed.†   (source)
  • There was laughter and further bantering by the Bishop, and then mild talk of village affairs, after which he took his leave, and Jane was left with her friend, Mary Brandt.†   (source)
  • Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire.†   (source)
  • A horse-wrangler named Hurley, a man of bad repute, as much outlaw as anything, took up the bantering.†   (source)
  • At any rate he engaged Lily so long that the sweets were being handed when she caught a phrase on her other side, where Miss Corby, the comic woman of the company, was bantering Jack Stepney on his approaching engagement.†   (source)
  • From the fact that Odette did occasionally tell a lie, it was not fair to conclude that she never, by any chance, told the truth, and in these bantering conversations with Mme. Verdurin which she herself had repeated to Swann, he could recognize those meaningless and dangerous pleasantries which, in their inexperience of life and ignorance of vice, women often utter (thereby certifying their own innocence), who—as, for instance, Odette,—would be the last people in the world to feel any undue affection for one another.†   (source)
  • There was card-playing for small stakes, idle jests of coarse nature, much bantering among the younger fellows, and occasionally a mild quarrel.†   (source)
  • There was a preachy flavor to it, although it was delivered in the light, bantering tone of small talk.†   (source)
  • It was, in fact, that which, with a secret fatuity, he had watched Mrs. Thorley Rushworth play toward a fond and unperceiving husband: a smiling, bantering, humouring, watchful and incessant lie.†   (source)
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