n. A variety of small barnyard fowl, with feathered legs, probably brought from Bantam, a district of Java. [ 1913 Webster ]

. Carved and painted work in imitation of Japan ware. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. (Zool.) The wild ox of Java (Bibos Banteng). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bantered p. pr. & vb. n. Bantering. ] [ Prob. corrupted fr. F. badiner to joke, or perh. fr. E. bandy to beat to and fro. See Badinage, and cf. Barter fr. OF. barater. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To address playful good-natured ridicule to, -- the person addressed, or something pertaining to him, being the subject of the jesting; to rally; as, he bantered me about my credulity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hag-ridden by my own fancy all night, and then bantered on my haggard looks the next day. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To jest about; to ridicule in speaking of, as some trait, habit, characteristic, and the like. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If they banter your regularity, order, and love of study, banter in return their neglect of them. Chatham. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To delude or trick, -- esp. by way of jest. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

We diverted ourselves with bantering several poor scholars with hopes of being at least his lordship's chaplain. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To challenge or defy to a match. [ Colloq. Southern and Western U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of bantering; joking or jesting; humorous or good-humored raillery; pleasantry. [ 1913 Webster ]

Part banter, part affection. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who banters or rallies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A method of reducing corpulence by avoiding food containing much farinaceous, saccharine, or oily matter; -- so called from William Banting of London. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. for bandling, from band, and meaning a child wrapped in swaddling bands; or cf. G. bäntling a bastard, fr. bank bench. Cf. Bastard, n. ] A young or small child; an infant. [ Slightly contemptuous or depreciatory. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In what out of the way corners genius produces her bantlings. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Of or pertaining to the Bantu language group Bantu (definition 2); as, Bantu languages. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. of or pertaining to the Bantu people (definition 1). The Bantu population of Sierra Leone [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, itself a combination of this prefix with the syllable -ntu, a person; or as in Watusi. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. the family of languages spoken by the Bantu people (definition 1). [ PJC ]