Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Ha-ha

Ha-ha′

(hä-hä′)
,
Noun.
[See
Haw-haw
.]
A sunk fence; a fence, wall, or ditch, not visible till one is close upon it.
[Written also
haw-haw
.]

Definition 2024


ha-ha

ha-ha

See also: ha ha, há há, haha, hāhā, and нана

English

Alternative forms

Interjection

ha-ha

  1. An approximation of the sound of laughter.
Translations
See also
  • tee-hee

Noun

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

  1. A laugh.
    • 1957, Ernie Kovacs, Zoomar, Doubleday (1957), page 28:
      Ha-has from both sides of the door.
    • 1997, David Gessner, A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod, University Press of New England (1997), ISBN 0874518032, page 90:
      We had a fine dinner, punctuated with Heidi's loud ha-has and lots of wine.
    • 2012, David Mazzarella, Always Eat the Hard Crust of the Bread: Recollections and Recipes from My Centenarian Mother, iUniverse (2012), ISBN 9781475913941, page 24:
      Not just giggles or a few ha-has, but the paralyzing kind of laughter, when the eyes tear and the nose runs and one gasps seemingly unto apoplexy.
  2. Something funny; a joke.
    • 1983, Texas Monthly, March 1983, page 68:
      You'll catch a few ha-has and even a golden memory or two singing along with the house piano player.
    • 1996, Lois A. Chaber, "Sir Charles Grandison And The Human Prospect", in New Essays on Samuel Richardson (ed. Albert J. Rivero), St. Martin's Press (1996), ISBN 9780312125080, page 196:
      She is not rewarded until she learns to reduce her expectations, and surprises (the ha-has of this novel) are the educational tool.
    • 2005, Sue Grafton, S Is for Silence, Berkley Books (2005), ISBN 1101146966, unnumbered page:
      If Kathy had been with us, she'd have countered with a few ha-has of her own, thus guaranteeing a laugh at his expense.

Etymology 2

From French haha, supposedly from ha! as an expression of surprise.

Alternative forms

  • har-har

Noun

ha-ha (plural ha-has)

  1. A ditch with one vertical side, acting as a sunken fence, designed to block the entry of animals into lawns and parks without breaking sightlines.
    • 1814, Austen, Jane, Mansfield Park, volume one, chapter IX, Thomas Egerton:
      A few steps farther brought them out at the bottom of the very walk they had been talking of; and standing back, well shaded and sheltered, and looking over a ha-ha into the park, was a comfortable-sized bench, on which they all sat down.
Translations

Finnish

Interjection

ha-ha

  1. ha-ha, haha (onomatopoeic representation of laughter)

Min Nan

trad. and simpl.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ ha˧˧ha˥˥ ]

Adverb

ha-ha (POJ, traditional and simplified 哈哈)

  1. (onomatopoeia) the sound of someone laughing out loud
    哈哈 (ha-ha-chhiò) to laugh out loud