Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a good-natured joke or piece of banter.

1878		F.H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 57: Be there anything in this [...] or aint it only one of them ‘joshes’ they gits up in the Reveille sometimes?
c.1895		F. Norris Vandover and the Brute (1914) 48: Geary made a ‘josh’ that was a masterpiece.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 37: It was a josh, all right, that he was handin’ out, but he meant some thin’ by it.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 357: I hate to say it, Cap’tn, but it’s no josh.
1912		S. Ford Trying Out Torchy 15: [T]hey had a perfectly good time for awhile, exchangin’ boardin’ school josh.
1948		Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 12 June 19/1: We found him tired-eyed and peaked, overcome with yawns after months of fifteen-hour quiz-days — not a man for josh or chatter [DA].

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1903

‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 30: John has his josh rags on; don’t mind him, Ikey!