Hleahtor
Bosworth & Toller Anglo-Saxon Old English Dictionary - hleahtor
According to the Old English Dictionary:
- hleahtor
- Add: I. the action of laughing. (l) as an expression of joy, merriment :-- Plega and hleahtor . . . þǣr wigan sittad on beórsele blīde ætsomne, Rūn. 14. Hlehter (risus) eówer on heófunge byþ gehworfen and bliss on gnornunge, Scint. 171, 6. Hlehter sāre byd gemincged, II. Be hlehtre and be wōpe, I. Hwelce cehhettunge gē woldon þæs habban and mid hwelcre hleahtre gē woldon beón āstyred quanta moveris cachinno, Bt. 16, 2 ; F. 52, 5. Dyde ic mē tō gomene ganetes hleódor and huilpan swēg fore hleahtor wera, Seef. 21. Leahter risum, Scint. 171, 12. (l a) attributed to other than human beings :-- Wæs engla þreát hleahtre blīde, Cri. 739. Ic (the devil) þā rōde ne þearf hleahtre herigean, El. 920: An. 1705. (2) as an expression of contempt, scorn :-- Gif þū mid þan þeáwe tǣlendra mē hleahtrige, warna þē sylfne þǣr þū þē hleahtres (leóhtes ?) wēne þæt þū þǣr ne wurde mid dymnysse þȳstro āblend if you after the manner of critics laugh at me, loot to yourself lest where you expect laughter (light f) you can see nothing for the darkness (the Latin is: si more obtrectatoris succensueris, cave, ut ubi lucem putaveris, ne a tenebris obcaeceris), Guth. Gr. 101, 23. Bysmredon of hleahtre deriserunt derisu, Ps. Rdr. 34, 16. Bysmrodon mē mid hleahtre (printed mildhleahtre) subsannaverunt me subsannatione, Ps. Spl. 34, 19. Þ æt wīf āhlōh wereda drihtnes nalles glædlīce, ac heó þone hleódorcwide husce belegde on sefan swīde . . . on būre āhōf hihtleásne hleahtor, Gen. 2387. II. a laugh, a burst or peal of laughter :-- Þā higeleáslican ceahhetunga, hlehtras ineffrenatos cachinnos, An. Ox. 3171: Wlfst. 233, 18.