Definition of Laughtir
Laugh"ter (?), n. [AS. hleahtor;
akin to OHG. hlahtar, G. gelächter, Icel.
hlātr, Dan. latter. See Laugh, v.
i. ] A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles
of the face, particularly of the lips, with a peculiar expression of
the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction, or derision, and
usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from
the lungs. See Laugh, v. i.
The act of laughter, which is a sweet
contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of
the vocal organs, is not merely, or totally within the jurisdiction
of ourselves. Sir T. Browne.
Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning
with laughter. Longfellow.
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
LAUGHTER, n. An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the
features and accompanied by inarticulate noises. It is infectious
and, though intermittent, incurable. Liability to attacks of laughter
is one of the characteristics distinguishing man from the animals --
these being not only inaccessible to the provocation of his example,
but impregnable to the microbes having original jurisdiction in
bestowal of the disease. Whether laughter could be imparted to
animals by inoculation from the human patient is a question that has
not been answered by experimentation. Dr. Meir Witchell holds that
the infection character of laughter is due to the instantaneous
fermentation of sputa diffused in a spray. From this peculiarity he
names the disorder Convulsio spargens.
- 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
- A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the face, particularly of the lips, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction, or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs.
Quotations
*The act of laughter, which is a sweet contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of the vocal organs, is not merely, or totally within the jurisdiction of ourselves. -
*Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter -
- The sound produced by air so expelled.
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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The correct Spelling of this word is: Laughter
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