Bellyjape
proper noun
the name of a famous pirate ship that sailed the seas of the Imaginary Universe, although the term itself is thought to mean a hijink that is so hilarious that is causes abdominal discomfort due to loud and continuous laughter.
bellyache (/ˈbɛlɪeɪk/)
noun
(informal) a stomach pain.
Old English belig ‘bag’, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘swell, be inflated’. Old English æce (noun), acan (verb). In Middle English and early modern English the noun was spelled atche and rhymed with ‘batch’ and the verb was spelled and pronounced as it is today. The noun began to be pronounced like the verb around 1700. The modern spelling is largely due to Dr Johnson, who mistakenly assumed its derivation to be from Greek akhos ‘pain’.
jape (/dʒeɪp/)
noun
a practical joke.
middle English: apparently combining the form of Old French japer ‘to yelp, yap’ with the sense of Old French gaber ‘to mock’
