laughter



belly laugh

An often uncontrolled, loud, and hearty laugh. The old man let out a giant belly laugh when he saw his young granddaughter spill an entire bowl of spaghetti on her head.
See also: belly, laugh

burst into something

to begin to produce a lot of something The children burst into tears when they saw their ruined toys. The car burst into flames. The whole situation was so ridiculous, I simply burst into laughter.
Related vocabulary: break into something
See also: burst

gales of laughter

sudden, loud happy sounds made by people when they are very amused I heard gales of laughter coming from the conference room.
See also: laughter, of

Laughter is the best medicine.

something that you say which means that it is good for your physical and mental health to laugh A visit from Camille always makes me feel better - she's so hilarious. It's like they say, laughter's the best medicine.
See also: laughter, medicine

burst into

1. Also, burst out in or into . Break out into sudden activity. For example, burst into flames means "break out in a fire," as in This dry woodpile may well burst into flames. A version of this term, which dates from the 16th century, was used figuratively by John Milton: "Fame is the spur ... But the fair guerdon [reward] when we hope to find, and think to burst out into sudden blaze" ( Lycidas, 1637).
2. Also, burst out. Give sudden utterance to. For example, burst into tears or laughter or song or speech or burst out crying or laughing or singing , etc. mean "begin suddenly to weep, laugh, sing," and so on, as in When she saw him, she burst into tears, or I burst out laughing when I saw their outfits, or When they brought in the cake, we all burst into song. These terms have been so used since the late 1300s.
See also: burst

canned laughter

Also, canned music. Prerecorded sound effects that can be played repeatedly, as in That canned laughter doesn't make his jokes any funnier, or Canned music is greatly reducing the number of musical jobs available. O. Henry had the term in his story, Cabbages and Kings (1903): "We'll export canned music to the Latins." Canned laughter today is often used in broadcasting to simulate the reaction of a nonexistent live audience. [c. 1900]
See also: canned, laughter

shake with laughter

Convulse with the humor of something, as in When asked if he was planning to give away the bride, he shook with laughter at the very thought . [Early 1700s]
See also: laughter, shake

burst into

v.
1. To enter some place suddenly and forcefully: The police burst into the room and conducted a raid.
2. To start doing something suddenly: Sometimes we burst into song while we're hiking in the mountains.
See also: burst

belly laugh

n. a loud, deep, uninhibited laugh. I don’t want to hear giggles when I tell a joke. I want long belly laughs.
See also: belly, laugh

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
MiekeMEE-kəDutch
BorbÁLa-Hungarian
Paramonos-Ancient Greek
Gunhild-Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Deshawn-African American
Honoratahaw-naw-RAH-tah (Polish)Late Roman, Polish