laughter
UK /ˈlɑːftə/ · US /ˈlæftɚ/ noun, proper noun
Forms laughters laughtre
- noun The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound. “Their loud laughter betrayed their presence.”
- noun A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, and of the whole body, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs.
- noun (archaic) A reason for merriment.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity, merriment”), Danish and Norwegian latter (“laughter”), Icelandic hlátur (“laughter”). More at laugh.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the face, particularly of the lips, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction, or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs. See Laugh, v. i. The act of laughter, which is a sweet contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of the vocal organs, is not merely, or totally within the jurisdiction of ourselves. Sir T. Browne.
Etymology [AS. hleahtor; akin to OHG. hlahtar, G. gelächter, Icel. hlatr, Dan. latter. See Laugh, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “laughter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details