tinkle of laughter
1
4.3
- noun
- /ˈtɪŋkəl əv ˈlæf.tər/
- As the friends shared their stories, the room was filled with a joyous tinkle of laughter.
Examples
-
A merry tinkle of laughter.
Fiction book (2000) -
The children played together, filling the air with a delightful tinkle of laughter.
-
We could hear the happy tinkle of laughter from the neighboring picnic.
Synonyms
591
1.0
The sound people make when they find something funny
57
1.8
A quiet laugh you try to keep inside
4
2.7
Making short, high ringing sounds like small bells
3
7.2
A short nervous laugh at something slightly funny or awkward
How Tinkling
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'tinkle' (a brief, high, bell-like sound) with 'laughter' (the sound of laughing), so its meaning — a light, high, bell-like laugh — is directly derivable from the constituents. The preposition 'of' merely links the modifier to the sound, and this kind of sensory metaphor (sound A applied to sound B) is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily understand it.
Etymology
Tinkle of laughter comes from the image of a small bell. The word tinkle sounds like a light, high ring and laughter is compared to that tiny, cheerful sound, so it now means 'a light, cheerful laugh'.