Laughing Stock Meaning

(idiomatic) An object of ridicule, someone who is publicly ridiculed; a butt of sport.

Example: c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act 3, sc. 1:
  Pray you let us not be
  laughing-stocks to other men's humours.
1856, Lord Macaulay, contribution to Encyclopedia Britannica on Oliver Goldsmith:
  When he talked, he talked nonsense, and made himself the laughing-stock of his hearers.
2004, Judy Battista, "Pro Football: NFL Matchups, Week 1," New York Times, 12 Sep. (retrieved 19 Apr. 2009):
  If anyone can restore dignity to a franchise that has been close to a laughing stock in the last few years, it's Gibbs.