Definition of "laugh"

laugh

/laːf/

noun
plural laughs
1. An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
  Quotations
  And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
  1803, Oliver Goldsmith, The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With an Account of His Life, page 45
  That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.
  1869, F. W. Robertson, Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics, page 87
2. Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
  Quotations
  “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.”
  1921, Ring Lardner, The Big Town: How I and the Mrs. Go to New York to See Life and Get Katie a Husband, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 73
  Life's a piece of shit / When you look at it / Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
  1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
3. (Britain, New Zealand) A fun person.
  Quotations
  Outhwaite is a good laugh, yes, she knows how to smile: but deep down, she really is strong and stern.
  2010, The Times, March 14, 2010, Tamzin Outhwaite, the unlikely musical star
verb
third-person singular simple present laughs, present participle laughing, simple past and past participle laughed
1. (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.
  Quotations
  But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that her eyes ran ore.
  c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, [Act I, scene ii]
  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: […]
  1807, William Wordsworth, “[I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], stanza 2, page 49
  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.
  1899, Stephen Crane, Twelve O’Clock
  If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
  1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
2. (intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
  Quotations
  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.
  a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Of the Pythagorean Philosophy. From the Fifteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, page 51
  In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]
  1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle II, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], page 17
3. (intransitive, followed by "at") To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
  Quotations
  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.
  1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle III. To Allen Lord Bathurst.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], page 23, lines 311–314
  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; [...]
  1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., page 71
  On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back
  1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane
4. (transitive) To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
  Quotations
  Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 2
5. (transitive) To express by, or utter with, laughter.
  Quotations
  From his deepe cheſt laughes out a lowd applauſe, [...]
  c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, [Act I, scene iii]
  Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.
  1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power
  "You refuse to take me seriously," Lute said, when she had laughed her appreciation. "How can I take that Planchette rigmarole seriously?"
  1906, Jack London, Moon-Face

Definition of "laugh"

laugh

noun

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verb

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