Etimology
From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.
noun
laugh (plural laughs)
An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
(British, New Zealand) A fun person.
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.
His deep laughs boomed through the room.
“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.
Outhwaite is a good laugh, yes, she knows how to smile: but deep down, she really is strong and stern.
Related words
synonyms
(expression of mirth): cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter, cachinnation
(something that provokes mirth or scorn): joke, laughing stock
verb
laugh (third-person singular simple present laughs, present participle laughing, simple past and past participle laughed)
(intransitive) 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.
(intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
(intransitive, followed by "at") To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
(transitive) To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
(transitive) To express by, or utter with, laughter.
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.
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; [...]
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
Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.
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?"
Related words
synonyms
(show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face): cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter
See also Thesaurus:laugh
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face"): cry, weep
coordinate terms
(show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face): cry, frown, scowl, smile
related terms
laughster
laughter