fleer

nasty laughter; to laugh nastily (at)

This word works like jeer and sneer. It can be a transitive or intransitive verb, or a noun. And as a bonus, it rhymes and means almost the same thing. In short, these three words are a limerick waiting to happen. Mail me if you write one.

However, fleer is preferable in everday usage to either of the other two because it is less well-recognized and therefore more impressive. It is also more fun to say — you can really wrap your lips around this one!

Finally, the etymology. It's Scandinavian, probably derived from the Norwegian word flire, which means “to snicker.” Those Norwegians are known for their nasty laughter.