cachinnate
[kak-uh-neyt]
- to laugh loudly or immoderately.
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Origin of cachinnate
1815–25; < Latin cachinnātus (past participle of cachinnāre to laugh aloud, laugh immoderately), equivalent to cachinn- laugh aloud + -ātus -ate1
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cachinnation
Historical Examples
Chip's nervous system did not demand the relief of cachinnation.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
And there it swung to and fro, moved by the violence of its cachinnation.
Vikram and the VampireRichard F. Burton
Then, look at the baby, when it has turned into a little boy or girl, and come up in some degree to the cachinnation.
Why, one might as well talk of a laughing death's-head,—the cachinnation of a monk's memento mori.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VII (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
Never did a General and his Chief-of-Staff, in a more unseemly state of cachinnation, ride along a picket-line.
The Black PhalanxJoseph T. Wilson
cachinnation
- raucous laughter
- psychiatry inappropriate laughter, sometimes found in schizophrenia
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cachinnate
- (intr) to laugh loudly
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Word Origin
C19: from Latin cacchināre, probably of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cachinnation
n.
"loud laughter," 1620s, from Latin cachinnationem (nominative cachinnatio) "violent laughter, excessive laughter," noun of action from past participle stem of cachinnare "to laugh immoderately or loudly," of imitative origin. Cf. Sanskrit kakhati "laughs," Greek kakhazein "to laugh loudly," Old High German kachazzen, English cackle, Armenian xaxanc'.
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cachinnate
v.
"to laugh loudly or immoderately," 1824, from Latin cachinnatum, past participle of cachinnare (see cachinnation). Related: Cachinnated; cachinnating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
cachinnation
(kăk′ə-nā′shən)- Loud, hard, or compulsive laughter without apparent cause.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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