chortle

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English

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Etymology

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Perhaps a blend of chuckle +‎ snort. Coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, completed in 1855 but only introduced to the public in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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chortle (plural chortles)

  1. A joyful, somewhat muffled laugh, rather like a snorting chuckle.
    He frequently interrupted himself with chortles while he told us his favorite joke.
  2. A similar sounding vocalisation of various birds.

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Verb

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chortle (third-person singular simple present chortles, present participle chortling, simple past and past participle chortled)

  1. (intransitive) To laugh with a chortle or chortles.
    The old fellow chortled as he recalled his youthful adventures.

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Derived terms

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Translations

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