Meaning
Laugh very loudly, freely and often unattractively. Informal. It emphasizes volume and abandon rather than elegance. Regional use: Chiefly British and Irish English.
Origin
British examples are documented from 1935. The comparison is usually understood as an imitation of the loud gurgling or roaring sound of water in a drain, although the early citations do not identify a single incident or inventor. Later service-slang records helped spread the expression but do not prove a wartime coinage.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Cackle like a drain
- Laughing like a drain
- Roar like a drain
Usage Examples
- The outtake made the entire crew laugh like a drain.
- I could hear Nessa laughing like a drain from the other end of the carriage.