laugh
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /laːf/
ipa: /lɑːf/
ipa: /laf/
enpr: lăf
ipa: /læf/
rhymes: -ɑːf
rhymes: -æf
rhymes: -æθ
Forms: form: laughs
form: laughing
form: laughed
form: laughed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: laugh
form: laugh
form: laughed
form: laugh
form: laughest
form: laughed
form: laughedst
form: laughs
form: laugheth
form: laughed
form: laugh
form: laughed
form: laugh
form: laughed
form: laugh
form: -
form: laughing
form: laughed
form: laff
form: laughe
form: larf
Etymology: 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: (with j-present) Scots lauch, Icelandic hlæja, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish le; (without) Low German lachen, Dutch lachen, German lachen.
Indo-European: Russian клекота́ть (klekotátʹ), клокота́ть (klokotátʹ), клохта́ть (kloxtátʹ) ‘to cluck, cackle’, Ancient Greek κλώζω (klṓzō), κλώσσω (klṓssō) ‘to cackle, clack’, Welsh cloch ‘bell’, possibly Latin glōcīre ‘to cluck’.
Senses: examples: text: There were many laughing children running on the school grounds.
text: But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that her eyes ran ore.
ref: 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]:
text: 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: […]
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 1899, Stephen Crane, Twelve O’Clock:
text: If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
ref: 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle II, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 17:
glosses: To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
examples: text: Don't laugh at my new hat, man!
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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; [...]
ref: 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 71:
text: On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back
ref: 1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane:
glosses: To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
raw_tags: followed by "at"
examples: text: Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.
ref: 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:
glosses: To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
examples: text: From his deepe cheſt laughes out a lowd applauſe, [...]
ref: 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]:
text: Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.
ref: 1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power:
text: "You refuse to take me seriously," Lute said, when she had laughed her appreciation. "How can I take that Planchette rigmarole seriously?"
ref: 1906, Jack London, Moon-Face:
glosses: To express by, or utter with, laughter.
Synonyms: sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: cackle
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: chortle
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: chuckle
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: giggle
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: guffaw
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: snicker
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: snigger
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: titter
word: laugh
Hyponyms: word: cachinnate
word: cackle
word: chortle
word: chuckle
word: crack up
word: giggle
word: guffaw
word: have a laugh
word: hoot
word: kink
word: scoff
word: snicker
word: snigger
word: titter
word: bust a gut
word: burst out laughing
word: laugh like a hyena
word: laugh one's ass off
word: laugh one's head off
word: laugh oneself silly
word: lose it
word: roll in the aisles
word: roll on the floor
word: split one's sides
Coordinate terms: sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: cry
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: frown
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: scowl
sense: show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face
word: smile
Derived terms: word: belaugh
word: belly-laugh
word: burst out laughing
word: cry-laugh
word: don't make me laugh
word: enough to make a cat laugh
word: he who laughs last laughs best
word: he who laughs last laughs longest
word: it is to laugh
word: laughable
word: laugh all the way to the bank
word: laugh and grow fat
word: laugh at
word: laugh away
word: laugh down
word: laugher
word: laugh-in
word: laughing
word: laughingly
word: laugh in one's sleeve
word: laugh in someone's face
word: laugh in the sleeve
word: laugh like a drain
word: laugh like a hyena
word: laugh off
word: laugh one out of
word: laugh one's ass off
word: laugh one's head off
word: laugh on the other side of one's face
word: laugh on the wrong side of one's face
word: laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth
word: laugh-out-loud
word: laugh out of court
word: laugh out of the other corner of the mouth
word: laugh out of the other side of the mouth
word: laugh out of the other side of one's mouth
word: laugh to scorn
word: laugh track
word: laugh up one's sleeve
word: laugh with
word: LOL
word: make a cat laugh
word: outlaugh
word: ROTFL
word: time spent laughing is time spent with the gods
word: unlaugh
word: you're having a laugh
word: you've got to laugh
Related terms: word: laughster
word: laughter
word: comedy
word: gelotology
word: funny
word: ha ha
word: tee hee
word: tee hee hee
word: bawdy
word: funny ha-ha
word: humorous
word: jocularity
word: mirth
word: LOL
word: ROTFL
word: haha
word: ha-ha
word: hehe
word: he-he
word: hoho
word: ho-ho
word: hawhaw
word: haw-haw
word: abderian
word: gelastic
word: ridicule
word: smile
word: joke
word: laughingstock