[f. LAUGH v. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. LAUGH; laughter; † an instance of this. Phrase, to burst out (a) laughing.
1340. Ayenb., 128. He … euremo ssolle by myd god ine paise and ine leȝinge.
1382. Wyclif, Job viii. 21. To the time that thi mouth be fulfild with laȝhing.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 171. Leyȝhyng & enioyng, in a seke body, is sygne of deth.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 42. He saw the fende write alle the laughinges that were betwene the women atte the masse.
1563–83. Foxe, A. & M., II. 1212/2. Whereat was good laughyng in sleeues of some.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 281. At the estate of such as are to be lamented, you fall a laughing.
1650. Hobbes, Hum. Nat., ix. 104. Laughing to ones self putteth all the rest to jealousie and examination of themselves.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, Life Æsop (1708), 18 bis, They all burst out a laughing by Consent.
1737. Fielding, Hist. Reg., III. Wks. 1882, X. 230. He’s a laughing in his sleeve at the patriots.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Angelina, iv. (1832), 69. ‘Nat!’ exclaimed Miss Hodges, bursting out laughing.
1812. Parl. Debate, 7 May, in Examiner, 11 May, 297/2. Hear, hear, and laughing.
1848. Kingsley, Yeast, viii. ‘Be you a-laughing at a poor fellow in his trouble?’
Proverb. 13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.), 534/185. Þe fol is knowen bi his lauhwhing.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 141. By ofte laghynge thow mayste know a fole.
b. attrib. and Comb., as laughing-humour, -side, -thing, -time; † laughing-game = LAUGHING-STOCK; laughing-matter (esp. in phr. it is no or not a laughing matter), a subject for laughter; laughing-muscle, the risorius, or the muscle that produces the contortions attendant upon laughter; † laughing peal, a peal of laughter; † laughing-post, -stake = LAUGHING-STOCK.
1564. trans. Jewel’s Apol. Ch. Eng., I. (1859), 5. [They] did count them [Christians] no better than the vilest filth, the offscourings and *laughing games of the whole world.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 436. Though not in a *laughing humour, I swear that I cannot help laughing.
1563–83. Foxe, A. & M., II. 1763/1. Then the audience laughed agayne: and Maister Latimer spake vnto them saying: why my maisters, this is no *laughyng matter. I aunsweare vppon lyfe and death.
1793. Sheridan, in Sheridaniana, 141. A joke in your mouth is no laughing matter.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xiv. These little festivities were laughing matters.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, ix. It was not exactly a laughing matter to me.
1593. ‘P. Foulface,’ Bacchus Bountie, C 3. The whole hall for ioy did ring out a loud *laffing peale.
1810. Splendid Follies, II. 150. Nobody can’t say I have stuck myself up for a *laughing post.
1864. Knight, Passages Work. Life, I. i. 106. One [person] I especially remember as looking upon the *laughing side of human affairs.
a. 1625. ? Fletcher, Faithf. Friends, I. iii. He lay in Vulcan’s gyves a *laughing-stake.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 F iv b. It shuld be a *laughyng thynge that so many of dyuers and often contraryes shulde be taken of a communyte.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., I. xiii. (1553), c v b. To proue that thys lyfe is no *laughyng tyme.
