hypergelast
(haɪˈpɜːdʒiːlæst)
[f. hyper- 4 + Gr. γελαστής a laugher, f. γελᾶν to laugh; cf. gelastic a.]
(See quot. 1877.)
| 1877 G. Meredith Ess. Comedy in New Q. Mag. VIII. 2 We have another class of men..whom we may term hypergelasts; the excessive laughers. 1902 Times Weekly Educ. Suppl. 19 Dec. p. ii/2 As to the savage, he is a great laugher—a hypergelast, in fact. 1933 Scrutiny I. 356 Meredith's hypergelasts are enemies of the Comic spirit, but his ideal audience all laugh, in their polite drawing-room way. 1947 N. Cardus Autobiogr. i. 47 The word ‘hypergelast’..denoting the loud vacant laughers. |