Forms: 1 hlehhan, hli(e)h(h)an, hlæh(h)an, Northumb. hlæhha, 24 leiȝen, 3 leh-, lihȝen, lahe(n, lauhwen, Orm. lahȝhenn, 4 leȝe(n, leyghe, -ȝ(h)e, l(h)eȝȝe, leeȝe, leyȝe, lyhe, lyȝhe, liȝe, laȝ(h)e(n, lauȝe, lawȝhe(n, lay(g)hyn, Sc. laucht, 45 lagh(e, laȝe, lauȝw(h)e, lawȝ(e, laȝwe, loȝe, 46 laughen, lawghen, law(g)whe, lawȝh(e, (5 leyȝh, lawhyn), 56 lawe, laȝe, lahe, Sc. lach, 6 laffe, loffe, 59 Sc. lauch, lawch, 5 laugh. Pa. t. 1 hlóʓ, hlóh, 45 logh(e, lough(e, lowh(e, 4 loȝe, louȝ(h), louh, lou, lohu, loowȝ, lowȝ(e, looȝ, loowe, 5 lowgh, louȝe, Sc. lugh(e, 56 Sc. leughe, leuȝe, 6 lawgh, lewgh, low, Sc. leuche, lewch, luiche, 6 Sc. leuch, leugh. weak forms, 4 leiȝede, -ide, laȝed, laughede, loght, Sc. laucht, lucht, 5 leyghed, lauȝed, louched, Sc. lauchit, 6 lawght, lought, 5 laughed. Pa. pple. 4 laughen, lawhen, 6 Sc. lachin, 5 laughed. [A Com. Teut. str. vb., but in the later periods of most of the langs. conjugated wholly or partially weak. OE. hlęhhan, hliehhan, Anglian hlæhhan, pa. t. hlóʓ, hlóh, pl. hlóʓon, pa. pple. *hlaʓen, *hlæʓen, corresponds to OFris. hlacka, pa. t. hlackade, OS. *hlahan, pa. t. pl. hlôgun, pa. pple. hlagan (MDu. lagchen, lachen, pa. t. loeg, pa. pple. gelaghen, mod.Du. lachen, pa. t. lachte, pa. pple. gelachen), OHG. hlahhen, pa. t. hlôch, also hlahhên, pa. t. hlahhêta (MHG., mod.G. lachen, pa. t. lachte, pa. pple. gelacht), ON. hlǽja, pa. t. hló, pl. hlógu, pa. pple. hlegenn (Sw. le, pa. t. log, Da. le, pa. t. lo), Goth. hlahjan, pa. t. hlôh (whence causative ufhlôjan); the Teut. root *hlah- (: *hlôh-: *hlag-) represents a pre-Teut. *klak-, prob. echoic; cf. *klōk- in Gr. κλώσσειν to cluck. The OTeut. type has a -jo-suffix in the present-stem, but not in the pa. t. or pa. pple. The mod.Eng. form descends from the Anglian hlæhhan.]
1. intr. To manifest the combination of bodily phenomena (spasmodic utterance of inarticulate sounds, facial distortion, shaking of the sides, etc.) that forms the instinctive expression of mirth or of sense of something ludicrous, and which can also be occasioned by certain physical sensations, esp. that produced by tickling. Also transf. to have the emotion (of mirth, amusement, scorn) that is expressed by laughing.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregorys Past., xxvii. 187. Wa eow ðe nu hliehað, forðam ʓe sculon eft wepan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xviii. 15. Þa ætsoc Sarra: Ne hloh ic na God cwæð þa ac þu hloʓe.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues (1888), 127. Þat mann is swa blind ðat he farð to helle leiȝinde.
c. 1200. Ormin, 5663. He wepeþþ ec forr alle þa þatt lahȝhenn her wiþþ sinne.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 230. And þeonne mid ispredde ermes leapeð lauhwinde uorð.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2233. Þe king bigan somdel to lyhe, þo he hurde þis.
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl., 477. Þis oþere loȝen and hadde gleo.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 653. Þenne þe burde byhynde þe dor for busmar laȝed.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 1582. Sche com wiþ adrink of main and louȝ.
1340. Ayenb., 93. Ne þet ne is naȝt lyf of man, ac of child þet nou wepþ nou lheȝþ.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 240. Ymagis of brass and stane, Þat semyt to laucht all elane.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 93. Ryght so mowe ye oute of myn hert bringe Swich vois, ryght as yow lyst, to laughe or pleyn.
c. 1425. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 404. Pan gan to carpe or hys lewde bagpype, whyche caused the company to lawe.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. xxiv. 90. So we loghe and maide good chere.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1065. The lordis on the tothir side for liking thay leugh.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, xxxii. (Arb.), 92. Ye lawhyd for ye were wel plesyd.
1555. Eden, Decades, 26. They sawe the Lieuetenaunte laugh.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 55. Then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe.
a. 1657. Sir W. Mure, Misc. Poems, ii. 88. Lauching to sie my trickling teirs doune go.
1676. Hobbes, Iliad, I. 561. And then the Gods laught all at once outright.
1728. Ramsay, Anacreontic on Love, 32. He leugh and with unsonsy jest, Cryd, Nibour, Im right blyth in mind.
1754. Chatham, Lett. Nephew, v. 35. It is generally better to smile than laugh out.
1839. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 98. The Efreet laughed, and, walking on before him, said, O fisherman, follow me.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. 28. He leuch, and speirt gin I wad list, and gae me a shillin.
1890. Hall Caine, Bondman, I. x. Then she laughed like a bell.
b. In proverbial and fig. phrases. To laugh in ones sleeve: to laugh to oneself, to nurse inward feelings of amusement. To laugh on the other, wrong side (of ones face, mouth): to change from laughter and exultation to sadness and vexation.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidanes Comm., 64. If I coveted nowe to avenge the injuries that you have done me, I myght laughe in my slyve.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 163. They laugh that win.
1622. May, Heir, III. i. Let them laugh That win the prize.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 228. Thou hast fleerd and laught in thy sleeve at the sincere.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, II. i. Tis false, sir; I know you are laughing in your sleeve.
1779. Cowper, Love of World Reproved, 24. You laughtis wellthe tale applied May make you laugh on t other side.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, II. v. ¶ 2. We were made to laugh on the other side of our mouths by an unforeseen occurrence.
1853. M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, I. ii. The Gods laugh in their sleeve To watch man doubt and fear.
1889. R. Boldrewood, Robbery under Arms, xxxiii. Ill make some of ye laugh on the wrong side.
c. Attributed poet. and rhetorically to inanimate objects, chiefly with reference to movement or play of light and color that is apprehended as the expression of joyous feeling.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.s T., 636. Firy Phebus riseth vp so brighte That al the Orient laugheth of the lighte.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. I. (1495), 485. For fayrnesse and grene springynge that is therin it is sayde that meedes laughe.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 161 (Douce MS.). My lere [was] as þe lele, louched one highte.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxv. 13. The valleys stonde so thicke with corne yt they laugh and synge.
1725. Pope, Odyss., III. 601. In the dazzling goblet laughs the wine.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 817. The fruitful field Laughs with abundance.
18036. Wordsw., Intim. Immort., iv. The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee. Ibid. (1805), Prelude, IV. Poems (1888), 261/1. The sea lay laughing at a distance.
1818. Milman, Samor, 9. The sparkling wine laughd up, As eager twere to touch so fair a lip.
1852. Hawthorne, Grandfathers Chair, II. i. (1879), 75. The wood fire laughs broadly through the room.
1875. Longf., Masque of Pandora, i. The waters of a brook Limpid and laughing in the summers sun!
1894. Baring-Gould, Deserts S. France, I. 2. This mountain plateau laughs with verdure.
† d. Laugh and lay (or lie) down: an obsolete game at cards.
1522. Skelton, Why not to Court, 928. Now nothynge but pay, pay, With, laughe and lay downe, Borowgh, cyte, and towne.
1591. Florio, 2nd Fruites, 67. What game doo you plaie at cards? At primero, at trump, at laugh and lie downe.
1594. Lyly, Moth. Bomb. (1632), Dd ij. At laugh and lie downe if they play, What asse against the sport can bray?
1634. S. R., Noble Soldier, I. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl., I. 268. Sorrow becomes me best. A suit of laugh and lye downe would wear better.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Laugh-and-lay-down, a childish game at cards.
2. quasi-trans. with cognate object. Also, to utter laughingly or with laughter.
c. 1470. K. Estmere, 235, in Percys Reliq. The ladye lough a loud laughter, As shee sate by the king.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 163. The large Achilles laughs out a loud applause.
c. 1650. Lad of Learne, 215, in Furnivall, Percy Folio, I. 190. A loud laughter the Ladie lought.
1842. Tennyson, Lady Clare. He laughd a laugh of merry scorn.
1848. [see LAUCH sb. 2].
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xxxi. 14. Laugh out whatever laughter at the hearth rings clear.
b. in passive (nonce-use).
1844. Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, Poems 1850, I. 66. For is all laughed in vain?
3. With dat. of person, and to with sb. expressing the effect, as in to laugh to scorn (now arch. and literary), † to laugh to bismer, hething, hoker.
The vb. in these phrases is now apprehended as transitive: cf. sense 6.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 270. Hwon pet ȝe habben herdi bileaue nule ȝe buten lauhwen him lude to bismare.
a. 1240. Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 283. Ha lahhen þe to hokere þer þu o rode hengest.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15881 (Gött.). Þe feluns logh [v.r. lowȝe] him til hething on ilk side, allas! Ibid. (a. 1340), 2028 (Trin.). Cam was vnkynde ynouȝe To scorne he his fadir louȝe.
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxvii. 184. Alle wolle þei ful ȝare Lauhwhe þe to bisemare.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 1995. The clerkys louhe to scorne the emperour.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xxi[i]. 7. All they yt se me, laugh me to scorne. Ibid. (1540), Fruitf. Less., i. (1593), P 1 b. The wisest of all is laughed to scorne.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 395. I laughed to scorn the elementsAnd chiefly those of Learning.
1866. Howells, Venet. Life, 306. This was too much, and we laughed him to scorn.
4. With preps. a. With at, † of, † on, over, indicating the cause of laughter. † Also with on, upon (rarely up, to) in the sense: To look pleasantly on, to smile on.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, li[i]. 8. Rehtwise ofer hine hlæhað.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2722 (Gött.). Sare Herd þis word and lohu [v.rr. loghe, lowȝe] þar-att.
c. 1300. Havelok, 903. The kok stod, and on him low.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1092. Þe world laghes on man and smyles.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 203. For thi loue we as leue bretheren shal and vche nan laughe vp other.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 150. Ȝif þe world leize to him in killynge of his enemyes.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeves Prol., 1. Whan folk hadde laughen at this nyce cas.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5060. She laugheth on him, and makith him feeste.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 3253. Thoo Anazaree vpon him lough.
c. 1500. Three Kings Sons, 37. The quene & fferaunt lough wele at the wordes of hir doughtir.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Esdras iv. 31. Yf she laughed vpon him, he laughed also.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Alemans Guzman dAlf., II. 226. Whereat they laught a good.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 65. He had the picture of a foole at the entrance, laughing on an Urinall.
1669. Pepys, Diary, 7 Jan. A bold, merry slut, who lay laughing there upon people.
1821. Byron, Juan, IV. iv. And if I laugh at any mortal thing, Tis that I may not weep.
1880. Mrs. Forrester, Roy & V., I. 7. Dreams, indeed, my dear! I have not forgotten them: I often laugh heartily over them.
b. To laugh at (rarely † of, † upon): to make fun of, mock at; to deride, ridicule. Also in indirect pass.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 234. He laughethe at my peyne.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, II. xii. Of the euylle or other, men ought not to lawhe ne scorne.
1513. More, in Grafton, Chron. (1568), II. 781. [He] laughed upon him, as though he woulde say, you shall have neede of one sone.
15[?]. Peebles to Play, ix. All that lookit them upon Leugh fast at their array.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidanes Comm., 18 b. A lighte and verye weake reason and even laughed at of the Romanes them selves.
1604. E. G[rimstone], DAcostas Hist. Indies, I. i. 2. In his Commentaries vpon the Epistle to the Hebrewes, he doth laugh at those, which hold the heavens to be round.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1840), 12. My Brother laught at all I had suggested. Ibid. (1724), Mem. Cavalier, II. 202. Our Major was laughed at by the whole Army.
1786. Burns, Ordination, iv. How graceless Ham leugh at his Dad.
1802. R. Anderson, Cumberld. Ball., 25. Far maist I leugh at Grizzy Brown.
18078. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 97. Giving parties to people who laugh at them.
1866. Reader, No. 169. 295/2. Laughed at by mere litterarians.
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, iv. 89. Though Pope Laughed at the advice, we might fancy that he took it to heart.
† 5. trans. To laugh or mock at, deride. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt ix. 24. ʓehloʓun hine.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 482. Ða apostoli hloʓon ðæra deofla leasunga.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Jan., 66. She laughes the songes, that Colin Clout doth make.
6. With obj. and compl. or advb. phr.: To produce a specified effect upon (a person) by laughing.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 305. Men laughe hem selve to deaþ.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 123. Angels who with our spleenes, Would all themselves laugh mortal. Ibid. (1610), Temp., II. i. 188. Will you laugh me asleepe, for I am very heauy. Ibid., ii. 159. I shall laugh my selfe to death at this puppi-headed Monster.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Epist. & Rev., 296 [2 Thess. ii. 11]. Whose whole life is to eat, and drink and laugh themselves fat.
1668. Charles II., in Julia Cartwright, Henrietta of Orleans (1894), 264. James did maintaine for some time that she was not painted, but he was quickly laffed out of it.
1679. J. Goodman, Penitent Pardoned, II. ii. (1713), 196. The company laughed the cunning man out of countenance.
c. 1712. Swift, Hints Ess. Convers., Wks. 1765, XIII. 262. Love, honour, friendship, generosity, under the name of fopperies, have been for some time laughed out of doors.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., III. § 15. These authors laugh men out of their religion, as Horace did out of their vices.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 321. Whom [has it] laughed into reform?
1827. Hare, Guesses (1859), 248. Is there anybody living who has not often been laught out of what he ought to have done, and laught into what he ought not to have done.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., x. 268. A fellow who will joke and laugh the money out of your pocket.
1890. R. Boldrewood, Col. Reformer (1891), 102. Sure yed be laughed out of any hunting-field in Britain if ye took one of the things there.
1. With adverbs. To laugh away: † (a) to let go with a laugh; (b) to dismiss or get rid of with a laugh; (c) to while away (time) with laughter. To laugh down: to subdue or silence with laughter. To laugh off, out = to laugh away (b). To laugh over: to recall or repeat with laughter or mirth.
1591. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 704. Yet would he laugh it out And tell them that they greatly him mistooke.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 256. Let us laugh this sport ore by a Countrie fire. Ibid. (1604), Oth., IV. i. 113. Now he denies it faintly: and laughes it out. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. vi. 109. Pompey doth this day laugh away his Fortune.
1715. Vanbrugh, Country Ho., I. i. They all got drunk and lay in the Barn, and next Morning laughd it off for a Frolick.
1780. Cowper, Table-T., 239. And laughs the sense of misery far away. Ibid. (1781), Retirement, 452. He talks and laughs away his vacant hours.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xiii. Vivaldi tried to laugh away her apprehension.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., III. 221. Though burning with envy her grace attempted to laugh out the scene.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, XII. i. ¶ 8. Instead of laughing it off, I was fool enough to be angry.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. i. 19. I strove To laugh the thought away.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 89. Baby lips will laugh me down. Ibid. (1855), Maud, I. xix. 60. Whenever she touchd on me This brother had laughd her down.
1880. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Rebel of Fam., ii. Clarissa laughed off the proposal as a joke.