fou riren.
/fuː ˈrɪə/ (A fit of) wild or uncontrollable laughter.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > types of laughter > [noun] > vehement, convulsive, or wild laughter > outburst of
on a roar1604
convulsion1735
chink1767
fou rire1914
1897 P. G. Hamerton Autobiogr. vii. 51 The eldest boy in our class was liable to fits of perfectly uncontrollable laughter (what the French call le fou rire).]
1914 R. Brooke Let. 3 Sept. (1968) 613 Murmurs of subdued applause from me. Eddie [Marsh] had a fou rire.
1919 G. Saintsbury Hist. Fr. Novel II. iv. 137 But I own that an access of fou rire once came upon me when I was told in a printed page that La Chartreuse de Parme was a ‘very lively and very amusing book’.
1924 M. MacCarthy 19th-cent. Childhood vii. 75 Adela and I exchange glances... We recover quickly from our hidden fou-rire.
1963 P. H. Johnson Night & Silence xxvi. 194 Halfway up the stairs she..fell into a fou rire.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1914