TO LAUGH ON THE WRONG (or OTHER) SIDE OF ONE’S MOUTH (or FACE), subs. phr. (colloquial).—To cry.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. LAUGH.
1823. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. LAUGH.
1826. BUCKSTONE, The Death Fetch, i. 4. Snapsch. (Aside.) And have a pretty family of them about my ears the first time I’m left alone in the dark, who would soon make me LAUGH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF MY MOUTH, I fancy.
1837. CARLYLE, The Diamond Necklace, iii. By and by thou wilt LAUGH ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THY FACE.
