Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Jape \Jape\, v. i. [Prob. from the same source as gab,influenced
   by F. japper to yelp. See {Gab} to deceive.]
   To jest; to play tricks; to jeer. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Jape \Jape\, v. t.
   To mock; to trick. --Chaucer.

         I have not been putting a jape upon you. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

         The coy giggle of the young lady to whom he has
         imparted his latest merry jape.          --W. Besant.

Source : WordNet®

jape
     n : a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter;
         "he told a very funny joke"; "he knows a million gags";
         "thanks for the laugh"; "he laughed unpleasantly at
         hisown jest"; "even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to
         have some ascertainable point" [syn: {joke}, {gag}, {laugh},
          {jest}]