laughing stock

English

Alternative forms

• laughingstock, laughing-stock

Etymology

From laughing +‎ stock (“source, supply; butt, target”). Compare also whipping-stock, jesting-stock.

Noun

laughing stock (plural laughing stocks)

1. (idiomatic) An object of ridicule, someone who is publicly ridiculed; a butt of sport.
   • circa 1598, William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act 3, sc. 1:

     Pray you let us not be

     laughing-stocks to other men's humours.

   • 1856, Lord Macaulay, contribution to Encyclopedia Britannica on Oliver Goldsmith:

     When he talked, he talked nonsense, and made himself the laughing-stock of his hearers.

   • 2004, Judy Battista, "Pro Football: NFL Matchups, Week 1," New York Times, 12 Sep. (retrieved 19 Apr. 2009):

     If anyone can restore dignity to a franchise that has been close to a laughing stock in the last few years, it's Gibbs.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:laughingstock

Related terms

• butt of the joke

Translations

object of ridicule

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 笑柄 (cmn) (xiàobǐng)

• Finnish: naurunaihe (fi)
• French: risée (fr) f, objet de moquerie (fr) m
• German: Witzfigur (de) f
• Indonesian: bahan tertawaan (id)

• Japanese: 笑い者 (ja) (わらいもの, waraimono)
• Jèrriais: riselée f
• Latin: lūdībrium (la) n
• Russian: посмешище (ru) (posméšišče) n 
• Spanish: hazmerreír (es) m
• Swedish: driftkucku (sv) c