laugh

Related to laugh: laugh track

a laugh

1. An instance of laughter. Once I got a laugh from the audience, I started to feel more relaxed about giving my presentation.
2. An instance of lighthearted amusement or mirth. Ah, don't be upset, we were only having a laugh! This show is always good for a laugh, so I put it on whenever I'm feeling down.
3. A fun or enjoyable experience. Come with us to the party tonight. I'm sure it will be a laugh.
4. Something absurdly inadequate, defective, or idiotic. Their customer service is a total laugh. I was on the phone for nearly two hours just to be told that they couldn't identify the problem and wouldn't help me any further. I hated every minute of my stay there, so the 10% service charge they added automatically to my bill was quite a laugh.
See also: laugh

laugh in (one's) sleeve

To rejoice or be amused secretly and contemptuously, as at another's mistakes or misfortunes. Though feigning sympathy, my colleagues are all laughing in their sleeves at me for being stood up at the altar by my fiancée. I know it's mean-spirited, but I can't help but laugh in my sleeve when I see someone slip on the icy streets.
See also: laugh, sleeve

laugh up (one's) sleeve

1. To try to hide that one is laughing at someone else. Ron may seem like a nice guy, but he laughs up his sleeve whenever he's around someone he dislikes. The popular kids laugh up their sleeves every time I walk by—it's so infuriating.
2. To rejoice or be amused secretly and contemptuously, as at another's mistakes or misfortunes. Though they are feigning sympathy, I'm sure my colleagues are all laughing up their sleeves at me for being chewed out by the boss. I know it is mean spirited, but I cannot help but laugh up my sleeve when I see someone slip on the icy streets.
See also: laugh, sleeve, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

laugh

up/in (one's) sleeve
To rejoice or exult in secret, as at another's error or defeat.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See:
  • a barrel of laughs
  • a barrel/bundle of laughs
  • a laugh
  • a laugh a minute
  • a laughing stock
  • Are you having a laugh?
  • barrel of laughs
  • be a barrel of laughs
  • be a bundle of laughs
  • be a laugh a minute
  • be laughed out of court
  • be laughing
  • be laughing (one's) head off
  • be laughing all the way to the bank
  • be laughing on the other side of (one's) face
  • be laughing on the other side of your face
  • be laughing out of the other side of (one's) mouth
  • be laughing up (one's) sleeve
  • be laughing up your sleeve
  • be laughing your head off
  • be no laughing matter
  • belly laugh
  • bundle of laughs
  • burst into
  • burst out laughing
  • bust a gut
  • bust out laughing
  • cried all the way to the bank, he/she
  • die laughing
  • Don’t make me laugh!
  • don't make me laugh
  • Don't make me laugh!
  • drink (oneself) silly
  • drink, laugh, shout, etc. yourself silly
  • enough to make a cat laugh
  • fall about laughing
  • fall about the place (laughing)
  • for a laugh
  • for giggles
  • for kicks
  • for kicks and for laughs; for giggles
  • for laughs
  • get a laugh
  • good for a laugh
  • have (someone) laughing in the aisles
  • have a laugh
  • have the last laugh
  • he laughs best who laughs last
  • he laughs longest who laughs last
  • he laughs loudest who laughs last
  • he who laughs last laughs longest
  • he who laughs last, laughs best
  • he who laughs last, laughs longest
  • he who laughs last, laughs loudest
  • horse laugh
  • it's to laugh
  • kill (oneself) laughing
  • kill yourself laughing
  • last laugh
  • last laugh, have the
  • last laugh, to have the
  • laugh
  • laugh (one) off the stage
  • laugh (one's) head off
  • laugh (oneself) silly
  • laugh (someone or something) out of court
  • laugh (someone or something) to scorn
  • laugh a minute
  • laugh about
  • laugh about (something)
  • laugh all the way to the bank
  • laugh and grow fat
  • laugh and the (whole) world laughs with you(; weep and you weep alone)
  • laugh and the world laughs with you
  • Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone
  • laugh at
  • laugh at (someone or something)
  • laugh at the carpet
  • laugh away
  • laugh away at
  • laugh down
  • laugh head off
  • laugh in (one's) face
  • laugh in (one's) sleeve
  • laugh in face
  • laugh in somebody's face
  • laugh in someone's face
  • laugh like a drain
  • laugh off
  • laugh off the stage
  • laugh on the other side of (one's) face
  • laugh on the other side of (one's) mouth
  • laugh on the other side of your face
  • laugh oneself out of
  • laugh oneself silly
  • laugh or cry, don't know whether to
  • laugh out (of) the other side of (one's) face
  • laugh out (of) the other side of (one's) mouth
  • laugh out of
  • laugh out of court
  • laugh out of court, to
  • laugh out of the other side of face and laugh out of the other ...
  • laugh out of the other side of mouth
  • laugh out of the other side of one's mouth
  • laugh out of the other side of your face/mouth, you'll/to
  • laugh somebody/something out of court
  • laugh someone or something out of court
  • laugh someone or something to scorn
  • laugh till you cry
  • laugh until you cry
  • laugh up (one's) sleeve
  • laugh up one's sleeve
  • laugh up one's sleeve, to
  • laugh up sleeve
  • laugh up your sleeve
  • laugh with
  • laugh with (one)
  • laugh with (something)
  • laugh your head off
  • laugh yourself silly
  • laughing academy
  • laughing in the aisles
  • laughing matter
  • laughing soup
  • laughing stock
  • laughing water
  • liquid laugh
  • make (someone, something, or oneself) a laughingstock
  • make a laughingstock of (someone, something, or oneself)
  • make a play for
  • man plans and God laughs
  • no joke
  • no laughing matter
  • not be a barrel of laughs
  • not know whether to laugh or (to) cry
  • not know whether to laugh or cry
  • piss (oneself) laughing
  • play for
  • play for laughs
  • play something for laughs
  • raise a laugh
  • raise a laugh/smile
  • raise a smile
  • rolling on the floor laughing
  • shout (oneself) silly
  • split one's sides
  • split one's sides, to
  • the last laugh
  • the laugh is on (one)
  • the laugh is on me
  • you have (got) to laugh
  • you have to laugh
  • you make me laugh
  • You make me laugh!
  • yourself silly
References in classic literature
Suddenly Joey was standing beside us, it could not have been more sudden though he had come from beneath the table, and he was wearing his pantomime clothes (which he told us afterward were the only clothes he had) and his red and white face was so funny that David made gurgling sounds, which were his laugh trying to force a passage.
Joey thought he had toothache, so I explained what it really meant, and then Joey said, "Oh, I shall soon make him laugh," whereupon the following conversation took place between them:
The Little White Bird
No more does his infernal laugh go echoing among the hills, and no more does his fat moon-face rise up to vex me.
ha!" he laughed. "The funniest tike, that youngster of mine!
Moon Face and Other Stories
But observing that she and the others had begun to laugh, he too opened his mouth and laughed with them.
Epanchin a little, and amused the girls; they bowed and shook hands with some of their friends and nodded at a distance to others; they examined the ladies' dresses, noticed comicalities and eccentricities among the people, and laughed and talked among themselves.
The Idiot
Then the Sheriff laughed again, but not as though he liked the jest, while the butchers said, one to another, "Before Heaven, never have we seen such a mad rollicking blade.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
I laughed, and started to draw on to the foot a silk stocking, while Mlle.
Gambler
"There's no difference," he replied, beginning to laugh again.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
But the thing that made Will laugh most was, that the very fellow who did it got his trousers burnt trying to put out the fire, and he asked the is it Faculty or President?
An Old Fashioned Girl
Like cats they curve their backs, they purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,-- all good things laugh.
Thus Spake Zarathustra
And she was so un-hysterical and natural and childish that she brought him to his senses and he began to laugh at himself and a few minutes afterward she was sitting on her stool again telling him not what she imagined the secret garden to be like but what it really was, and Colin's aches and tiredness were forgotten and he was listening enraptured.
Secret Garden
It was a great while since D'Artagnan had laughed so long together.
Ten Years Later
I haf seen dot beast throw himself back in his chair and laugh when Bertran haf made fun of me.
From Mine Own People
Griffiths laughed, and Philip saw that Mildred noticed how white and regular his teeth were and how pleasant his smile.
Of Human Bondage