LAUGH AT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Laugh at

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/læf æt/ Listen

verb

Laugh v. i. (past & past part. laughed; pres. part. laughing)

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." "He laugheth that winneth."

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." "In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble Joy."

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."

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)

See images of 'Laugh at'

Etymology of 'Laugh at'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Laugh at" Quotes from Famous Books

... war-charger. At the head of this motley array was a small-sized, thin-faced, modest-looking man, his uniform superior to that of his men, but no model of neatness, yet with a flashing spirit in his eye that admonished the amused soldiers not to laugh at his men in his presence. Behind his back they laughed enough. The Pedee volunteers were a source of ridicule to the well-clad Continentals that might have caused trouble had not the officers used ...

— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... the door, and cries of 'For goodness' sake, sir, let me out! let me out! I never saw such a beast in all my life!' and out came the poor blacksmith pale with fright, but all the consolation he got was a jolly good laugh at ...

— Highways and Byways in Surrey • Eric Parker

... February favour only just time to laugh at it once, when the melancholy news that Betsy Devotion, of Windham, was very dangerously sick, banished every joyous thought from my heart. This Betsy you may remember to have heard mentioned near the name of Natty ...

— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... hens cackle, the cocks crow, and the hogs grunt, all terrified by this merriment of man. Servants move in and out carrying fancy dishes and silver cutlery. Here there is a quarrel over a broken plate, there they laugh at the simple country girl. Everywhere there is ordering, whispering, shouting. Comments and conjectures are made, one hurries the other,—all is commotion, noise, and confusion. All this effort and ...

— The Social Cancer - A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere • Jose Rizal

... these people he would probably have me shut up as a maniac. The Forge doctor is making himself very unpleasant. He told me the other day that if I persisted in working my charm on many more people he would have me—investigated! Just fancy! investigating me! He used to laugh at me; it's got past the laughing stage now. When professional people step on each other's toes the atmosphere is apt to be electric. The Forge doctor has at last concluded that I am not a joke. A woman, to that sort of man, is either a ...

— A Son of the Hills • Harriet T. Comstock

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