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laugh

(lăf, läf)

v. laughed, laugh·ing, laughs

v.intr.

1. To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements.

2. To show or feel amusement or good humor: an experience we would laugh about later on.

a. To feel or express derision or contempt; mock: I had to laugh when I saw who my opponent was.

b. To feel a triumphant or exultant sense of well-being: You won't be laughing when the truth comes out.

4. To produce sounds resembling laughter: parrots laughing and chattering in the trees.

v.tr.

1. To affect or influence by laughter: laughed the speaker off the stage; laughed the proposal down.

2. To say with a laugh: He laughed his delight at the victory.

a. The act of laughing.

b. The sound of laughing; laughter.

2. Informal Something amusing, absurd, or contemptible; a joke: The solution they recommended was a laugh.

3. often laughs Informal Fun; amusement: went along just for laughs.

Phrasal Verbs:

laugh at

To treat lightly; scoff at: a daredevil who laughed at danger.

laugh off (or away)

To dismiss as ridiculously or laughably trivial: laughed off any suggestion that her career was over.

Idioms:

laugh all the way to the bank

To take glee in making money, especially from activity that others consider to be unimpressive or unlikely to turn a profit.

laugh out of the other side of (one's) mouth

To see one's good fortune turn to bad; suffer a humbling reversal.

laugh up/in (one's) sleeve

To rejoice or exult in secret, as at another's error or defeat.

[Middle English laughen, from Old English hlæhhan, probably ultimately of imitative origin.]

laugher n.

laughing·ly adv.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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