in stitches

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

in stitches

1. (idiomatic) Laughing vigorously; very amused; aching due to convulsive laughter.

   Synonym: in hysterics

   • 1918, Laura Lee Hope, chapter 15, in The Outdoor Girls in Army Service:

     "I was just dancing with old Doctor Riley, and he kept me in stitches. Half the time he had almost to carry me around, I was laughing so."

   • 1955 May 15, “People”, in Time:

     Leaving the White House after a unilateral chat with Coolidge, Actress Barrymore, in stitches from laughter, was confronted by perplexed newsmen wondering what was so funny.

   • 2004, Willis Barnstone, We Jews and Blacks, →ISBN, page 59:

     I took a graduate seminar in close-reading of Dylan Thomas and Joyce, and among the smart students a nun and a rabbi kept us in stitches with their endless whimsy and scholarship.

Usage notes

• Often used with the verb keep.

Translations

laughing vigorously

• Finnish: kippurassa
• French: mort de rire (fr), plié en deux, plié en quatre (fr), plié (fr)
• Irish: in arraingeacha

See also

• stitch (noun, sense 8)

Anagrams

• ethnicists, schnitties, snitchiest