Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Jape

Jape , intransitive verb

[Probably from the same source as gab, influenced by French japper to yelp. See Gab to deceive.]

To jest; to play tricks; to jeer. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

Jape , transitive verb

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