Repartee

The term repartee etymologically comes from the French repartir (to retort) and was first adopted into the English language as a technical term in fencing. In Restoration comedy, it then came to refer to a kind of wit combat, a fast-paced, witty verbal contest in which the participants try to outplay the other and to interpret their opposite’s remark to their own advantage. It is characteristic of instances of repartee to talk about matters indirectly by means of metaphors and like tropes. These witty exchanges frequently occur between the play's witty couple.

Sources

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 1999.

"repartee." Merriam Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repartee. Accessed 22 July 2009.