Crossword Genius

Cohort drops ball and the French laugh (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chortle

'laugh' is the definition.
(chortling is a kind of laughing)

'cohort drops ball and the french' is the wordplay.
'drops' suggests deleting specific letters.
'ball' becomes 'o'.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'cohort' with 'o' removed is 'chort'.
'chort'+'le'='CHORTLE'

(Other definitions for chortle that I've seen before include "Chuckle merrily" , "Noisy gleeful laugh" , "Joyous chuckle" , "Laugh softly" , "Guffaw" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.