mirth

Definition

The emotion usually following humor and accompanied by laughter.

Etymology

From Middle English merth, myrthe, murhthe, from Old English myrġþ (“mirth, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgiþu (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to merry + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch merchte (“pleasure, joy, delight”).

Example Sentences

• "But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness."
• "And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth."
• "She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher."