barrel of laughs
6
4.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
diversión asegurada
- At the party, my friend was a barrel of laughs, entertaining everyone with her funny stories.
Because Dave sounds like he's just one big long barrel of laughs.
- Because Dave sounds like he's just one big long barrel of laughs.
Examples
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The comedian was truly a barrel of laughs, making everyone in the audience burst into laughter.
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Watching that movie was a barrel of laughs; I couldn't stop smiling the entire time.
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Well this looks like a barrel of laughs.
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Seems like a right barrel of laughs.
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Oh, well... this place is a barrel of laughs compared to where I was.
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It's been a barrel of laughs.
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Get the gang together and have a barrel of laughs.
Blog text (19) -
- Oh, he's a barrel of laughs.
-
Man, you're a barrel of laughs.
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They're a barrel of laughs.
Synonyms
1
6.3
A very fun and enjoyable situation or activity
1
3.9
A very funny person, event, or time that people enjoy
Antonyms
How Funny
- Informal
6
4.2
417
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
barrel + of + laugh
The phrase combines 'barrel' (a container) with 'laughs' to evoke a container full of laughter, so the intended idea 'a lot of fun / very amusing' is inferable from the constituents. However, this is a metaphorical extension rather than a literal composition and has become somewhat idiomatic, so understanding depends on recognizing the container-for-quantity metaphor rather than straightforward compositional meaning.
Etymology
Barrel of laughs gives the image of a big barrel so full of laughs that the laughter spills out. So, it means 'very funny' or a source of 'great fun'.