laugh and grow fat
Preserved but no longer current.
An old saw, expressive of the wisdom of keeping a cheerful mind. One of the works of Taylor, the Water Poet, has the title Laugh and be Fat (about 1625), and. m Trapp's Commentaries (1647), on 2 Thess. in, 1 1, he says, "Whose whole life is to eat and drink . . . and laugh themselves fat.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “laugh and grow fat” mean?
An old saw, expressive of the wisdom of keeping a cheerful mind. One of the works of Taylor, the Water Poet, has the title Laugh and be Fat (about 1625), and. m Trapp's Commentaries (1647), on 2 Thess. in, 1 1, he says, "Whose whole life is to eat and drink . . . and laugh themselves fat.
Is “laugh and grow fat” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.