lack-laughter

comparative more lack-laughter · superlative most lack-laughter

1. obsoleteCheerless; sombre; serious.

   […] many force / Lack-laughter faces to relax / Into the soft lines traced by joy.

   1850, “Agamemnon”, in Blackie, John Stuart, transl., The Lyrical Dramas of Æschylus, volume 1, translation of original by Aeschylus, page 48

   1 more example

   The lack-laughter sangfroid of the parſon was the conſtant topic of his ridicule, and he complained that whenever I appeared I caſt a gloom over the mirth of his company.

   1771, John Horne, The Controversial Letters of John Wilkes, Esq., the Rev. John Horne, and Their Principal Adherents, page 153

   Synonyms: cheerless, serious