a. [f. joco- as comb. form of L. jocus joke, jest + SERIOUS.] Half jocular, half serious; partly in jest and partly in earnest; blending jokes and serious matters. Hence Jocoseriosity (nonce-wd.).
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Suffolk, III. (1662), 61. Mr. Brounrig was appointed to perform the Joco-serious part thereof.
1737. M. Green, Spleen, 176. Drink a joco-serious cup With souls who’ve took their freedom up.
1819. Ann. Reg., 21/2. The right hon. gentleman went on in this joco-serious strain.
1885. E. Johnson, in Browning Society Papers, VII. 29. Our own poet has lately characterized himself as a jocoserious genius; and in fact this jocoseriosity seems of much the same quality with the eironeia of the Greek.
