laugh on the wrong side of one's face

English

Verb

laugh on the wrong side of one's face (third-person singular simple present laughs on the wrong side of one's face, present participle laughing on the wrong side of one's face, simple past and past participle laughed on the wrong side of one's face)

1. Synonym of laugh on the other side of one's face
   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II:

     Socialism? Ha! ha! ha! Where’s the money to come from? Ha! ha! ha!... Hitler will at any rate go down in history as the man who made the City of London laugh on the wrong side of its face. For the first time in their lives the comfortable were uncomfortable, the professional optimists had to admit that there was something wrong.