Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Asteism \As"te*ism\, n. [Gr. ? refined and witty talk, fr. ? of
   the town, polite, witty, fr. ? city: cf. F. ast['e]isme.]
   (Rhet.)
   Genteel irony; a polite and ingenious manner of deriding
   another.