laughs

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of laugh.

   He laughs easily, even at jokes he has heard before.

   The crowd laughs loudly whenever the comedian pauses.

   Note

   Mostly an intransitive verb, so a target arrives with a preposition: she laughs at the idea. A transitive pattern survives for two meanings. One is uttering something with laughter (he laughs his thanks). The other is moving someone by ridicule (she laughs him out of the plan). The figurative "sparkle, look cheerful" use is obsolete, so a meadow that laughs in the sun now sounds old-fashioned or poetic.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of laugh.

   The film earned plenty of laughs from the audience.

   Their nervous laughs gave away how uneasy everyone felt.

   Note

   Laughter is the uncountable mass, and this form counts the separate outbursts: nervous laughs, a string of laughs. It covers every noun meaning of laugh. These include single bursts of mirth, things that provoke mirth or scorn, and, in British and New Zealand use, people who are fun to be around. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb. The article or adjective in front of it usually shows which one is meant.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2