Homeric laughter
nounEtymology With reference to the "unquenchable laughter" (ἄσβεστος (ásbestos, “unceasing”) γέλως (gélōs, “laughter”)) of the gods in e.g. Iliad I. 599, Odyssey XX. 346.
1
Boisterous laughter, prolonged belly laughing; long or uncontrollable laughing.
- The words were scarcely out of her mouth, when they were greeted with a roar of Homeric laughter that literally shook the room, and this time not at the expense of the innocent speaker.1873, Charles Reade, chapter VI, in A Simpleton: A Story of the Day […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 193:
- But the Professor! He ought to have exploded in a burst of Homeric laughter, or else to have shaken his head at her and warned her where little girls go to who do this sort of thing.1916, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter III, in Malvina of Brittany:
- Related terms
- Homeric laugh