laugh in one's sleeve

Variant of laugh

laugh definition

laugh (laf, läf)

intransitive verb

  1. to make the explosive sounds of the voice, and the characteristic movements of the features and body, that express mirth, amusement, ridicule, etc.
  2. to be amused
  3. to feel or suggest joyousness; appear bright and merry laughing eyes

Etymology: ME laughen < OE hleahhan, akin to Ger lachen (OHG hlahhan) < IE base *klēg-, to cry out, sound > Gr klangē, L clangor

transitive verb

  1. to express or say with laughter
  2. to bring about, effect, or cause to be by means of laughter to laugh oneself hoarse

noun

  1. the act or sound of laughing
  2. anything that provokes or is fit to provoke laughter
  3. Informal mere diversion or pleasure

Related Forms:

laugh Idioms

have the last laugh

to win after apparent defeat and discomfiture

laugh at

  1. to be amused by
  2. to make fun of; ridicule; deride
  3. to be indifferent to or contemptuous of; disregard

laugh away

to get rid of (something unpleasant or embarrassing) by laughter

laugh down

to silence or suppress by laughing

laugh up one's sleeve

to laugh secretly or inwardly

laugh off

to scorn, avoid, or reject by laughter or ridicule

laugh on the other side of one's face

or laugh out of the other side of one's face or laugh on the wrong side of one's face or laugh out of the wrong side of one's face or laugh on the other side of one's mouth or laugh out of the other side of one's mouth or laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth or laugh out of the wrong side of one's mouth
to undergo a change in mood from joy to sorrow, from amusement to annoyance, etc.

no laughing matter

a serious matter

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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