See quotation. Obsolete.
1833. They used to have a play at the time of the fairs, called “throwing at the joke.” A leather cylinder, not unlike a high candlestick, was placed on the ground over a hole. The adventurers placed their coppers on the top of the joke, then retired to a distance and tossed a stick at it so as to knock the whole down.—Watson, ‘Historic Tales of Philadelphia,’ p. 152.
