laugh
verbEtymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *klek- Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan Old English hliehhander. Old English hlæhhan Middle English laughen, laghen English laugh From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną. Cognates Germanic: Scots lauch (“to laugh”), Yola leeigh, leigh (“to laugh”), North Frisian laache, lachi, laake, loache, lååke (“to laugh”), Saterland Frisian laachje (“to laugh”), West Frisian laitsje (“to laugh”), Alemannic German lache (“to laugh”), Cimbrian lachan (“to laugh”), Dutch, German, and Low German lachen (“to laugh”), Luxembourgish laachen (“to laugh”), Yiddish לאַכן (lakhn, “to laugh”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish le (“to laugh”), Elfdalian läa (“to laugh”), Faroese læa (“to laugh”), Icelandic hlæja (“to laugh”), Norwegian Nynorsk le, læ, læja (“to laugh”), Crimean Gothic lachen (“to laugh”), Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hlahjan, “to laugh”). Indo-European: Breton kloc'h (“bell”), Irish clog (“bell; clock”), Manx and Scottish Gaelic clag (“bell”), Welsh cloch (“bell”), Russian клекота́ть (klekotátʹ), клокота́ть (klokotátʹ), клохта́ть (kloxtátʹ, “to cluck, cackle”).
To show mirth, satisfaction, or derision, by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face, particularly of the mouth, causing a lighting up of the face and eyes, and usually accompanied by the emission of explosive or chuckling sounds from the chest and throat; to indulge in laughter.
- There were many laughing children running on the school grounds.
- But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that her eyes ran ore.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
3 more examples
- The waves beside them danced, but they / Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:— / A Poet could not but be gay / In such a laughing company: […]1807, William Wordsworth, “[I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 49:
- The roars of laughter which greeted his proclamation were of two qualities; some men laughing because they knew all about cuckoo-clocks, and other men laughing because they had concluded that the eccentric Jake had been victimised by some wise child of civilisation.1899, Stephen Crane, Twelve O’Clock:
- If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:
Figuratively, Obsolete To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
- The green ſtem grows in ſtature and in ſize, / But only feeds with hope the farmer's eyes; / Then laughs the childiſh year with flow'rets crowned, / And laviſhly prefumes the fields around, / But no ſubſtantial nouriſhment receives, / Infirm the ſtalks, unſolid are the leaves.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Of the Pythagorean Philosophy. From the Fifteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 51:
- In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle II, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 17:
Followed by "at" To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
- Don't laugh at my new hat, man!
- No Wit to flatter, left of all his ſtore! / No Fool to laugh at, which he valued more. / There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, / And fame, this lord of uſeleſs, thouſands ends.1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle III. To Allen Lord Bathurst.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 23, lines 311–314:
2 more examples
- There was something about him, Harry, that amused me. He was such a monster. You will laugh at me, I know, but I really went in and paid a whole guinea for the stage-box. To the present day I can't make out why I did so; [...]1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 71:
- On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane:
To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
- Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 2:
To express by, or utter with, laughter.
- From his deepe cheſt laughes out a lowd applauſe, [...]c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power:
1 more example
- "You refuse to take me seriously," Lute said, when she had laughed her appreciation. "How can I take that Planchette rigmarole seriously?"1906, Jack London, Moon-Face:
- Derived terms
50 terms
belaugh, belly-laugh, burst out laughing, cry-laugh, don't make me laugh, enough to make a cat laugh, he who laughs last laughs best, he who laughs last laughs longest, it is to laugh, laughable, laugh all the way to the bank, laugh and grow fat, laugh at, laugh away, laugh-cry, laugh down, laugher, laugh-in, laughing, laughingly, laugh in one's sleeve, laugh in someone's face, laugh in the sleeve, laugh like a drain, laugh like a hyena, laugh off, laugh one out of, laugh one's arse off, laugh one's ass off, laugh one's head off, laugh on the other side of one's face, laugh on the wrong side of one's face, laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth, laugh-out-loud, laugh out of court, laugh out of the other corner of the mouth, laugh out of the other side of the mouth, laugh out of the other side of one's mouth, laugh to scorn, laugh track, laugh up one's sleeve, laugh with, LOL, make a cat laugh, outlaugh, ROTFL, time spent laughing is time spent with the gods, unlaugh, you're having a laugh, you've got to laugh- Related terms
29 terms
laughster, laughter, comedy, gelotology, funny, ha ha, tee hee, tee hee hee, bawdy, funny ha-ha, humorous, jocularity, mirth, LOL, ROTFL, haha, ha-ha, hehe, he-he, hoho, ho-ho, hawhaw, haw-haw, abderian, gelastic, ridicule, smile, joke, laughingstock- Hyponyms
- cachinnate, cackle, chortle, chuckle, crack up, giggle, guffaw, have a laugh, hoot, kink, scoff, snicker, snigger, titter, bust a gut, burst out laughing, laugh like a hyena, laugh one's ass off, laugh one's head off, laugh oneself silly, lose it, roll in the aisles, roll on the floor, split one's sides