/laːf/, /lɑːf/, /laf/
OriginFrom 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, 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”).
- 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.”
“His deep laughs boomed through the room.”
- 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 tha”
“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.”
- British, New-ZealandA 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.”
- intransitiveTo 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: […]”
- figuratively, intransitive, obsoleteTo 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 ſ”
“In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]”
- intransitiveTo 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 ma”
- transitiveTo affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
“Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.”
- transitiveTo 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?"”
Formslaughs(plural) · laff(alternative) · laughe(alternative) · larf(alternative) · laughs(present, singular, third-person) · laughing(participle, present) · laughed(participle, past) · laughed(past) · laugh(infinitive) · laugh(first-person, present, singular) · laughed(first-person, past, singular) · laugh(present, second-person, singular) · laughest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · laughed(past, second-person, singular) · laughedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · laugheth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · laughed(past, singular, third-person) · laugh(plural, present) · laughed(past, plural) · laugh(present, subjunctive)