laughen

English

laughen

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 of *laughen* (strong class 6 or weak in -ed)
	present tense	past tense
infinitive	(to) laughen, laughe

1st-person singular	laughe	lough, low, laughed
2nd-person singular	laughest	lowe, lough, low, laughedest
3rd-person singular	laugheth	lough, low, laughed
subjunctive singular	laughe	lowe¹, laughed¹
imperative singular	laughe	—

plural²	laughen, laughe	lowen, lowe, laugheden, laughede
imperative plural	laugheth, laughe	—

participles	laughynge, laughende	laughen, laughe, laughed

¹ Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English.
² Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

“laughen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-19.