laugher en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- läfʹə (Received-Pronunciation)
- lăfʹə (General-American)
- /ˈlɑːfə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈlæfɚ/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Middle English lawȝar, lawher(e); equivalent to laugh + -er.
Meanings
-
One who laughs.
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.
1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “At the Barber’s Shop”, in Romola. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book III, page 309: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.
1992, Jib Fowles, Why Viewers Watch: A Reappraisal of Television's Effects, page 119:Well then—if I must neither stir out of the gate nor look out at window, I will at least see what the inside of the house contains that may help to pass away one’s time—peradventure, I may light on that blue-eyed laugher in some corner or other.
1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 251:
- A game in which an opponent is defeated by a sizable margin; a blowout.
- A variety of the domestic pigeon.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| laughers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
laughingly · laugh · laughter
Translations (3)
ar ضَاحِك (one who laughs) · fi nauraja (one who laughs) · eo ridanto (one who laughs)