Monday, March 7, 2011

Chortle

Chortle \CHOR-tl\ , transitive and intransitive verb;
1. To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle
noun;
1. A snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle

This word was coined in 1872 by Lewis Carroll in "Through the Looking Glass." It is probably a combination of chuckle and snort. The noun form dates to 1903.

This is not the first time we've seen a Carroll invention on LLL: frabjous
Here's a word that wasn't necessarily coined by the one and only William Shakespeare, but he was the first (known) person to write it down: slugabed

Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Monday, March 7
Etymologies come from the Oxford English Dictionary and/or Etymonline.com

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