laugh
nounverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//lɑːf//
- United States//læf//
- Australia//lɐːf//
- Scotland//laf//
An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
noun
- 1
An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
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.
- 2
Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
“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.
- 3
A fun person.
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.
Etymology
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”).
verb
- 1
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.
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.
- 2
figurativeTo 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.
In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]
- 3
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.
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
- 4
To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.
- 5
To express by, or utter with, laughter.
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?"
Forms
- plural
- laughs
- past tense
- laughed
- past participle
- laughed
- present participle
- laughing
- third person singular
- laughs
laugh · An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
laughing · verbal adjective of laugh: the action of the verb to laugh.laughter · The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any…Laughter · A surname.