[chawr-tl] 
verb, -tled, -tling, noun | 1. | to chuckle gleefully. |
| 2. | to express with a gleeful chuckle: to chortle one's joy. |
| 3. | a gleeful chuckle. |
| chor·tle (chôr'tl) n. A snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle. intr. & tr.v. chor·tled, chor·tling, chor·tles To utter a chortle or express with a chortle. [Blend of chuckle and snort.] chor'tler n. Word History: "'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy." Perhaps Lewis Carroll would chortle a bit himself to find that people are still using the word chortle, which he coined in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872. In any case, Carroll had constructed his word well, combining the words chuckle and snort. This type of word is called a blend or a portmanteau word. In Through the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty uses portmanteau to describe the word slithy, saying, "It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word" (the meanings being "lithe" and "slimy"). |
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