underlaugh

English

Alternative forms

• under-laugh

Etymology

Probably derived from Middle English underlaughen (“to smile; smile with the eyes”), Middle English underlaughteren (“to smirk”), equivalent to under- +‎ laugh.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

underlaugh (plural underlaughs)

1. A suppressed laugh
   • 1964, Galaxy Magazine - Volume 23, Issues 1-6, page 52:

     John Joy Tree greeted this with an ugly underlaugh, a barely audible sound which made Casher feel the whole situation was ridiculous.

   • 2011, Ward McBurney, Sap's War:

     “A stretcher case, surely,” he added, and an underlaugh rippled through the ranks and files.

   • 2012, Dana Spiotta, Stone Arabia, page 11:

     So in this specific role, in this specific scene, my fontal rush of propulsive fear, my prickly self-strickenness, and my strangled underlaugh that was (and still is) a result of what Sigmund Freud identified as the “liminal dilemma between the intense desire for supplication and the concurrent need for masochistic provocation” all combined to create an illusion of a brilliant stage presence, bursting with potential and future possibility.

   • 2013, Charles Kingsley, Delphi Complete Works of Charles Kingsley:

     Campbell laughed a quiet under-laugh, half sad, half humorous.

Related terms

• underlaughter

See also

• church giggles