Dictionary
laugh
Pronunciation: (laf, läf), [key]—
v.i.
1. to express mirth, pleasure, derision, or nervousness with an audible, vocal expulsion of air from the lungs that can range from a loud burst of sound to a series of quiet chuckles and is usually accompanied by characteristic facial and bodily movements.
2. to experience the emotion so expressed:
He laughed inwardly at the scene.
3. to produce a sound resembling human laughter:
A coyote laughed in the dark.
—
v.t.
1. to drive, put, bring, etc., by or with laughter (often fol. by
out, away, down, etc.):
They laughed him out of town. We laughed away our troubles.
2. to utter with laughter:
He laughed his consent.
3. laugh at,
a. to make fun of; deride; ridicule:
They were laughing at him, not along with him.
b. to be scornful of; reject:
They stopped laughing at the unusual theory when it was found to be predictive.
c. to find sympathetic amusement in; regard with humor:
We can learn to laugh a little at even our most serious foibles.
4. laugh up one's sleeve. See
sleeve (def. 4).
5. laugh off,to dismiss as ridiculous, trivial, or hollow:
He had received threats but laughed them off as the work of a crank.
6. laugh out of court, to dismiss or depreciate by means of ridicule; totally scorn:
His violent protests were laughed out of court by the others.
7. laugh out of the other side of one's mouth. to undergo a chastening reversal, as of glee or satisfaction that is premature; be ultimately chagrined, punished, etc.; cry:
She's proud of her promotion, but she'll laugh out of the other side of her mouth when the work piles up. Also,laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth or face.
—
n.
1. the act or sound of laughing; laughter.
2. an expression of mirth, derision, etc., by laughing.
3. Informal.something that provokes laughter, amusement, or ridicule:
After all the advance publicity, the prizefight turned out to be a laugh.
4. laughs, Informal.fun; amusement.
5. have the last laugh, to prove ultimately successful after a seeming defeat or loss:
She smiled slyly, because she knew she would yet have the last laugh on them. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
