different between laugher vs laugh

English

Etymology

laugh +? -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: l?f?, läf? IPA^(key): /?læf?/, /?l??f?/
• (US) enPR: l?f? IPA^(key): /?læf?/
• Rhymes: -æf?(r), Rhymes: -??f?(?)

Noun

laugher (plural laughers)

1. One who laughs.
   • 1863, George Eliot, Romola, Volume II, Book III, Chapter XXV, page 309

     He and his companions […] were exchanging jokes with that sort of ostentatious laughter which implies a desire to prove that the laugher is not mortified though some people might suspect it.

   • 1992, Jib Fowles, Why Viewers Watch: A Reappraisal of Television's Effects (page 119)

     These are the people whose laughter you hear after the boffolas on shows that have been filmed without audiences. I don't suppose all these laughers are dead, but a lot of them must be by this time.

2. A game in which an opponent is defeated by a sizable margin; a blowout.
3. A variety of the domestic pigeon.

Related terms

• laugh
• laughingly
• laughter

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• laff (eye dialect)
• laughe (archaic)
• larf (Cockney eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjan?.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /la?f/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??f/
• (General American) enPR: l?f, IPA^(key): /læf/
• Rhymes: -??f, -æf

Noun

laugh (plural laughs)

1. An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
   • 1803, Oliver Goldsmith, The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With an Account of His Life, page 45:

     And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.

   • 1869, F. W. Robertson, Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics, page 87:

     That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.

2. Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
   • 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:

     “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.”

   • 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

     Life's a piece of shit / When you look at it / Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.

3. (Britain, New Zealand) A fun person.
   • 2010, The Times, March 14, 2010, Tamzin Outhwaite, the unlikely musical star

     Outhwaite is a good laugh, yes, she knows how to smile: but deep down, she really is strong and stern.

Synonyms

• (expression of mirth): cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter, cachinnation
• (something that provokes mirth or scorn): joke, laughing stock

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

laugh (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.
   • 1899, Stephen Crane, Twelve O’Clock:

     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.

   • 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:

     If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

2. (intransitive, figuratively, obsolete) To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
3. (intransitive, followed by "at") To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
   • 1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane:

     On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back

4. (transitive) To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
5. (transitive) To express by, or utter with, laughter.
   • 1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power:

     Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.

   • 1906, Jack London, Moon-Face:

     "You refuse to take me seriously," Lute said, when she had laughed her appreciation. "How can I take that Planchette rigmarole seriously?"

Conjugation

Usage notes

The simple past tense forms laught, laugh'd and low and the past participles laught, laugh'd and laughen also exist, but are obsolete.

Synonyms

• (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face): cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter
• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Antonyms

• (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face): cry, weep

Coordinate terms

• (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face): cry, frown, scowl, smile

Derived terms

Related terms

• laughster
• laughter

Translations

Note: the following were in a translation table for "be or appear gay", which, given the modern meanings, is misleading; the title of this table has now been changed to "be or appear cheerful". The translations therefore need to be checked.

• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} nasmejan (biti)

See also

• comedy
• gelotology
• funny
• ha ha
• tee hee, tee hee hee

Anagrams

• Aghul

Middle English

Noun

laugh

1. Alternative form of lawe