chortle
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Lewis Carroll's chortle (chuckle + snort) and galumphing (gallop + triumphing) are famous examples.
View all »Definitions (7)
American Heritage Dictionary (3)
- noun A snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle.
- intransitive and transitive verb To utter a chortle or express with a chortle.
- Word History "'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.” Perhaps Lewis Carroll would chortle a bit himself to find that people are still using the word chortle, which he coined in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872. In any case, Carroll had constructed his word well, combining the words chuckle and snort. This type of word is called a blend or a portmanteau word. In Through the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty uses portmanteau to describe the word slithy, saying, "It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word” (the meanings being "lithe” and "slimy”).
Century Dictionary (1)
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet (2)
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View all » Examples
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Lewis Carroll's chortle (chuckle + snort) and galumphing (gallop + triumphing) are famous examples.
— VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3 -
Students asked to offer "etymologies" for it say it probably is composed of huge and monstrous -- in other words, it is like chortle or galumph,
— VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol V No 1 - He looked at it for a second and then he slammed the lid on it. — The Hard War
- It started as a small chuckle, descended into a chortle, then moved into a full-fledged belly laugh. — The Brothers' War
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"Ah!" the great chefs of Europe would chortle, gathering around the pot, or platter, or bowl, "Leggo flam!
— VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 3
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Chortle has been looked up 477 times, favorited 4 times, listed 82 times, commented on once, and has a Scrabble score of 12.
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View all »Etymologies (2)
American Heritage Dictionary (1)
- Blend of chuckle and snort.