1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. to laugh at

Find the word definition

What is "to laugh at"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To laugh at

Laugh \Laugh\ (l[aum]f), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Laughed (l[aum]ft); p. pr. & vb. n. Laughing.] [OE. laughen, laghen, lauhen, AS. hlehhan, hlihhan, hlyhhan, hliehhan; akin to OS. hlahan, D. & G. lachen, OHG. hlahhan, lahhan, lahh[=e]n, Icel. hl[ae]ja,W Dan. lee, Sw. le, Goth. hlahjan; perh. of imitative origin.]

  1. 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.

    Queen Hecuba laughed that her eyes ran o'er.
    --Shak.

    He laugheth that winneth.
    --Heywood's Prov.

  2. Fig.: To be or appear gay, cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.

    Then laughs the childish year, with flowerets crowned.
    --Dryden.

    In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble Joy.
    --Pope.

    To laugh at, to make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride.

    No wit to flatter left of all his store, No fool to laugh at, which he valued more.
    --Pope.

    To laugh in the sleeve, To laugh up one's sleeve, to laugh secretly, or so as not to be observed, especially while apparently preserving a grave or serious demeanor toward the person or persons laughed at.

    To laugh out, to laugh in spite of some restraining influence; to laugh aloud.

    To laugh out of the other corner of the mouth or To laugh out of the other side of the mouth, to weep or cry; to feel regret, vexation, or disappointment after hilarity or exaltation. [Slang]

Usage examples of "to laugh at".

And for twenty years my Aunt Babe had been forced to laugh at the same old weary sitcom minutiae, over and over and over.

She'd had to laugh at the salt instead of the sugar in Fred MacMurray's coffee.

There wasn't anything to laugh at, but we could see his teeth shining white, and he grinned every minute while he went through a sort of setting-up exercise.

It was easy to laugh at the housekeeper's daughter, she thought with bubbling fury.

Despite this Homat spent an inordinate amount of time out on deck, luxuriating in his thermal suit and the freedom it provided, a freedom to laugh at temperatures that would have frozen an unpro­.