LOL, int. and n.2
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Forms:
19– LOL, 19– lol. (Show Less)
Etymology:
Initialism < the initial letters of laughing out loud; sometimes also pronounced as an acronym.
The first L of LOL is sometimes also explained as the initial letter of laugh.
colloq.
A. int.
Originally and chiefly in the language of electronic communications: ‘ha ha!’; used to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to express amusement.
1989 FidoNews
(Electronic text)
8 May,
LOL—Laughing Out Loud.
1993 Re: Walking out of Movies in bit.listserv.cinema-l
(Usenet newsgroup)
3 Aug.,
LOL... Damn, that's even worse... Ba Ha Ha Ha ha ha!
2002 What Mobile Apr. 23/3
(heading)
Wan2 go on a d8 2nite? LOL. Everyone flirts, but will people really do it on their mobiles?
2003 K. Sampson Freshers 100
‘Wow, man! Are you, like, really from a council estate?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Lol! Awesome.’
2006 J. Dibbell Play Money xxiv. 170
There was a pause, then finally: lol. i know what ur hintin at.
1989—2006(Hide quotations)
B. n.2
An instance of the written interjection ‘LOL’.
1993 San Diego Union-Tribune 14 Feb. d2/3
Someone who cracks a joke might get an ‘LOL’ in response—for ‘Laughing Out Loud’.
1995 RE: Polygonal shaped GIFs in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.images
(Usenet newsgroup)
13 Aug.,
I got a LOL about ‘Geometrically challenged’.
2000 Times Union
(Albany, N.Y.)
(Nexis)
(Three Star ed.)
7 Sept. d1
Last week.., 14-year-old Caitlin Orlofsky and her friends caught up on it all, in a conversation punctuated by LOLs.
2009 R. V. Kozinets Netnography x. 183
All of it blogged and microblogged and promoted with lots of omgs and lols.
1993—2009(Hide quotations)