Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a laugh, the sound of laughter; often in pl., fun, laughs.

1938		H.M. Anderson Strip Tease 44: ‘Listen to ’em yock out there,’ says the comic after his bit ... ‘yock’ is a belly laugh.
1954		Wild One [film script] We had a lotta yaks, huh, Johnny?
1960		I. Freeman Out of the Burning (1961) 197: There was so much yuk yuk and horsing around.
1963		A.S. Fleischman Venetian Blonde (2006) 248: But you don’t get the point, friend. The real yock is coming up.
1971		N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 58: It didn’t get the yock from her I expected. Not even a small yock, not the slightest titter.
1978		L.K. Truscott IV Dress Gray (1979) 223: Yew think it’s been a big yuk so far, smack, yew just gonna love this next part.
1980		W.C. Anderson Bat-21 101: Wars just aren’t a lot of yuks anymore.
1983		R. Price Breaks 318: Suddenly they both exploded in a big yok.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 113: He walked to the gun room. He heard yuks inside. [Ibid.] 395: Sidewalk marches. Hecklers [...] Shriekers with good lungs. Nonparticipants out for yuks.
2003		Mad mag. Oct. 13: Those jokes that bomb / A show that sucks / Ted Koppel gives us / Twice the yuks.
2015		J. Stahl OG Dad 228: Heading into Maron to hang with the other yuck-hucksters.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 103: Big backslaps and yuk-yuks [...] Many mentions of me.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1987

(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 171: He is also a joker, a yuk-yuk type with happy eyes.