Ha-ha

Pronunciation

Imitative.

Alternative forms

• haha
• ha ha
• hehe

Full definition of ha-ha

Interjection

1. An approximation of the sound of laughter.

Noun

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.

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

Alternative forms

• har-har

Noun

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, Mansfield ParkA 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.