laugher
(ˈlɑːfə(r), ˈlæf-)
[f. laugh v. + -er1.]
1. One who laughs; one addicted to laughing; also, a scoffer.
| c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. vi. (Gibbs MS.), Crystes wepynges and teers comforteth not dissolute laughers. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 11 Swerers, and outragyous laughers. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 124 To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weepe. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. ii, Softly, these are Laughers, you do not know 'em. 1702 Steele Grief à la Mode i. i. 1 You are of the Laughers [mispr. Laughters], the Wits that take the Liberty to deride all Things that are Magnificent and Solemn. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 260 For the author of the Rehearsal Transprosed had all the men of wit (or, as the French phrase it, all the Laughers) on his side. 1784 Cowper Let. to W. Unwin in Corr. (1824) I. 331 The laughers you mention may live to be sensible of their mistake. 1812 D'Israeli Calam. Auth. (1867) 115 The wit has gained over the laughers on his side. 1821–30 Ld. Cockburn Mem. ii. (1874) 92 The public sided with the best laugher. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ More Tramps Abr. lxvii, Most of them are..good-natured, and easy laughers. |
2. A variety of the domestic pigeon, so called from its peculiar note.
| 1765 Treat. Dom. Pigeons 133 The laugher is about the size of a middling runt, and of much the same make. 1867 Tegetmeier Pigeons xviii. 159 Under the title of the Laugher, Moore describes a variety that, like the Trumpeter, has a very peculiar voice. |
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Add: 3. U.S. slang. a. Sport (esp. Baseball). A game so easily won as to be absurd; a ‘walkover’. Also transf.
| 1964 N.Y. Post 27 May 88/2 The score was 4–0 in the first innings and Ron Kanehl sat in the daylight near the bullpen. ‘A laugher?’ ‘Not yet,’ said Kanehl. 1965 M. Allen Now wait a Minute, Casey! xviii. 151 A ‘laugher’ is baseball slang for sure thing. 1972 D. Delman Sudden Death (1973) iv. 101 We had gathered three [tennis] victories each..Ann, two hard-fought wins and a laugher. 1990 J. Leavy Squeeze Play i. 18 The Senators lost, 19–0. It was the ultimate laugher. 1992 N.Y. Times 9 Aug. viii. 3/6 Rosen put Johnson where he could do the most good, and this race turned into a laugher quickly. |
b. A highly amusing or laughably absurd statement, situation, etc.; a joke.
| 1973 Pennsylvania Voice 10 Oct. 8/1 There is a clause in the policy to the effect that ‘..no pet shall cause damage to University property or grounds...’ This one is a laugher. 1977 Washington Post 17 July f1/3 The voice belongs to..the engineer-producer for this laugher of a recording session. 1988 Ibid. 29 Feb. d16/1 Pick a put-down, any put-down, and you could make it a laugher. |