Literary notes about cachinnate (AI summary)
The term cachinnate is employed in literature to describe an unrestrained, boisterous form of laughter, often juxtaposed with milder forms like chuckling or giggling [1, 2]. Writers use it to invoke an image of laughter that is almost instinctual and deeply physical, as when the diaphragm descends dramatically with each hearty laugh [3]. It can also highlight a communal, intergenerational sense of mirth—depicting scenes where both youth and age join in this vigorous outburst of amusement [4]. Moreover, in some contexts it serves to draw subtle distinctions in expressions of laughter, even hinting at gendered nuances in how humor is manifested [5].
- cachinnate.
— from The Century Vocabulary Builder by Joseph M. (Joseph Morris) Bachelor - laugh , v. cachinnate, roar , giggle , snicker , titter, chuckle, grin, twitter , cackle, chortle, hawhaw.
— from Putnam's Word Book
A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas Through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary by Louis A. (Louis Andrew) Flemming - Every time you take a full breath, or when you cachinnate well, the diaphragm descends and gives the stomach an extra squeeze and shakes it.
— from Cheerfulness as a Life Power by Orison Swett Marden - They reach at once and directly the instinctive sense of the ludicrous, and over them youth and age cachinnate together.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 37, November, 1860
A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various - That definition excludes women, because they giggle, or chuckle, or cachinnate.
— from Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 35, November 26, 1870 by Various