laugh
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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: 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”).
Inflected forms:
form: laughs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: laff
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: laughe
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: larf
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: laughs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: laughing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: laughest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: laughedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: laughs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: laugheth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: laugh
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: laughing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: laughed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: laff
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: laughe
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: larf
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
pos: noun
examples: And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.
It never fails to get a laugh. Here's to more humor in chess.
His deep laughs boomed through the room.
gloss: Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
pos: noun
examples: “And this rug,” he says, stomping on an old rag carpet. “How much do you suppose that cost?” ¶ It was my first guess, so I said fifty dollars. ¶ “That’s a laugh,” he said. “I paid two thousand for that rug.”
Life's a piece of shit / When you look at it / Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
Your new hat's an absolute laugh, dude.
gloss: A fun person.
pos: noun
tags: New-Zealand
UK
examples: a good laugh
2010, The Times, March 14, 2010, Tamzin Outhwaite, the unlikely musical star
Outhwaite is a good laugh, yes, she knows how to smile: but deep down, she really is strong and stern.
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: There were many laughing children running on the school grounds.
But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that her eyes ran ore.
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: […]
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.
If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
gloss: To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
obsolete
examples: 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.
In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]
gloss: To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
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; [...]
On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back
gloss: To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.
gloss: To express by, or utter with, laughter.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: From his deepe cheſt laughes out a lowd applauſe, [...]
Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.
"You refuse to take me seriously," Lute said, when she had laughed her appreciation. "How can I take that Planchette rigmarole seriously?"
Synonyms: laugh
Antonyms: cry
weep
Related words: 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
Derived words: barrel of laughs
belly laugh
bellylaugh
bundle of laughs
evil laugh
for a laugh
get the last laugh
good for a laugh
have a laugh
have the last laugh
have the laugh on one's side
Homeric laugh
horselaugh
laughability
laughaholic
laugh a minute
laughathon
laugh die me
laughee
laughfest
laughful
laughless
laughlike
laugh line
laughline
laugh machine
laughometer
laugh riot
laughsmith
laughsome
laugh test
laughworthy
laughy
liquid laugh
prelaugh
snaughle
that's a laugh
underlaugh
laugh one's ass off
laugh track
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 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 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
Translations: