make a cat laugh

Etymology

Coined in 1893 as part of the advertising for the Broadway production of the play Charlie's Aunt, ("it makes a cat laugh") based on the observation that cats do not laugh.

Verb

make a cat laugh (third-person singular simple present makes a cat laugh, present participle making a cat laugh, simple past and past participle made a cat laugh)

1. To be extremely funny.
   • 1914 March, Edmund Breese, “The Art of Advertising an Actor”, in The Rotarian, volume 4, number 7, page 28:

     The only play I know of that has ever established a trademark is "Charlie's Aunt." Perhaps some of you recall "Charlie's Aunt." Before that play was produced in New York City the only printed commentary was "it makes a cat laugh."

   • 2013, Robert Barnard, Death and the Princess:

     All the bowing and scraping was enough to make a cat laugh, but the Princess took it all in her stride — her demeanour commonsensical (didn't everyone who went by train get this sort of treatment?) and a shade demure.

   • 2013, Patrick Taylor, Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor:

     It would have made a cat laugh to see the prof's face.

   • 2015, Gordon Leidner, Lincoln's Gift: How Humor Shaped Lincoln's Life and Legacy:

     Carr added that he had never seen "another who provoked so much mirth, and who entered into rollicking fun with such glee. He could make a cat laugh.”