mirthquaken.
/ˈməːθkweɪk/, U.S. /ˈmərθˌkweɪk/ colloquial.
An extremely funny play, film, or other entertainment.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > other dramatic or variety performances > [noun]
antic1580
wayang1671
light entertainment1787
take-off1845
féerie1878
showboating1909
mirthquake1911
mirthquaker1921
icecapade1940
happening1959
stripagram1981
1911 in J. P. Simpson tr. V. Sardou Scrap of Paper (Advt. Suppl.) Climbing Roses. A Farcical Mirthquake in Three Acts By Eugene G. Hafer.
1927 Life 7 July 5/1 A mirthquake of laughter, A riot of clean Irish-Hebrew fun.
1928 Daily Express 24 Apr. 4/2 I found Prince George..among the first to see Harold Lloyd's new ‘mirthquake’.
1938 N.Y. Times 13 Jan. 19/1 Robert Benchley's new mirthquake After 1903—What? Always in hot water—that's Benchley, America's Mogul of Mirth.
1999 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 5 Dec. 47 a LLK wrote this mirthquake for the reading pleasure of his dear old friend Warren Burnett.
Derivatives
ˈmirthˌquaker n. now rare = main sense.
ΚΠ
1921 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 24 Aug. 5/4 There is a little bit of pathos, a dash of artistic and comedy, together with mirthquakers and music.
1928 Charleroi (Pa.) Mail 19 July 3/5 Chaplin again dons feminine garments to garner a mirthquaker of laughs in this new film.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §281/4 Something humorous; joke... Mirthquake, mirthquaker.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1911