laughen
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English hlæhhan, alternative form of hlehhan, hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.
Pronunciation
- (primarily Early ME) IPA(key): /ˈlaxən/, /ˈlɛxən/
- IPA(key): /ˈlau̯xən/, /ˈlɛi̯xən/, /ˈliːxən/
Verb
laughen
- To laugh; to break out in laughter or laughing.
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 961–963:
- But right anon the worthy Knyght bigan / whan that he saugh that al the peple lough: / "Namoore of this, for it is right ynough!
- But right away the worthy Knight started / when he saw that all the people laughed: / "No more of this, because that's enough!
- To express glee or joyfulness; to show happiness.
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Merchant's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1723–1724:
- And Venus laugheth upon every wight / For Januarie was bicome hir knyght
- And Venus laughs about every person / As January has become her knight
- (usually with a preposition) To reminisce about; to remember with affection.
- (rare) To laugh about an incident or thing.
Conjugation
Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
References
- “laughen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-19.
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