Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A hearty, boisterous burst of laughter.
- v. To laugh heartily and boisterously.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To laugh loudly and coarsely or rudely.
- n. A loud, rude burst of laughter; a horse-laugh.
Wiktionary
- n. A boisterous laugh
- v. intransitive To laugh boisterously.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A loud burst of laughter; a horse laugh.
WordNet 3.0
- v. laugh boisterously
- n. a burst of deep loud hearty laughter
Etymologies
- Probably onomatopoetic. (Wiktionary)
- Probably imitative. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.”
“What has me chuckling, more of a borderline guffaw, is that because MS is so ridiculous about standards they need to call IE8’s actual standards compliant mode, “Super Standards!””
“My sense of humor is typically not the sort that people "guffaw" at -- but I hope there will be a moment or two of amusement for those who are kind enough to read it.”
“Jump ahead on the "guffaw" clip and notice how Mickey goes on to confuse Althouse for McCardle at the end of this Bloggingheads clip, well after the Althouse discussion with Bob Wright is over.”
“The laugh was at the expense of the tormentor, and he retreated from the shop in the "guffaw," and Fitz was permitted to finish his shave in peace -- in peace, at least, so far as this particular tormentor was concerned, for a more formidable one assailed him before his departure.”
“From C. P. Ardell’s fat throat came a sound that could only be called a guffaw.”
“I would not praise Scalia for laughing at Colbert’s volley at him; Scalia’s laughter was a cover-your-ass kind of guffaw; Colbert made Scalia look like the petty-ass plutocrat that he is.”
“Dating, awkwardness, or Intermix guffaw otherwise?”
The Huffington Post: Meredith Fineman: Fifty First (J)Dates: The Rules of Engagement Part I
“Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) always got a grin or even an outright guffaw from his patronizing white audience when he exclaimed”
“While many viewers regard the contest as an excuse to enjoy high-camp dance routines and belting power ballads and guffaw at other countries' quirks, Eurovision is a serious business.”
The Wall Street Journal: Western Europe Seeks Eurovision Comeback
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘guffaw’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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SMILE and other emotive verbs
Single verbs that describe expression or emotional reaction. "He __ed" (smiled/gulped/scoffed...)
smile, beam, sneer, scoff, giggle, laugh, snigger, scowl, grin, leer, wince, grimace and 97 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Funny Laughter Words
Words that speak humor
humor, laugh, funny, laughter, hilarity, guffaw, chortle, giggle, burst, hilarious, happy, chuckle and 66 more...
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That's funny...
words that make you smile...
can be funny words, oxymorons or words describing laughter and fun.giggle, sniggle, snicker, chuckle, titter, guffaw, smile, hoot, twitter, hee-haw, tee-hee, snort and 68 more...
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Favs
'nuf said
guffaw, pontificate, regalia, appease, sage, epitome, posit, dissipate, delineate, congruent, erroneous, braggadocio and 20 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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Dean Koontz Life Expectancy
Words I'm learning or investigating that I found by reading Life Expectancy (not all words are in the book).
chutzpah, luminous, torchieres, dunderheaded, inane, lummox, fox-trot, rumba, cha-cha, tango, swing, flub and 37 more...
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jan_21
magoosh listens
infuriating, imperciptible, sporadic, galvanize, shirk, protean, versatile, auspicious, clairvoyance, nary, presentiment, qualm and 63 more...
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Happy, happy, joy, joy.
Feel good words.
great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, exhilaration, exuberance, bliss, felicity and 95 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for guffaw.
blafferty Oh dear! Didn't mean to endanger you! May 16, 2011
reesetee *bares teeth while laughing*
*chokes* May 15, 2011
blafferty For some reason, I always picture someone laughing with their teeth showing when I think of this word. Is it the "horse laugh" thing? May 15, 2011
bilby
It was laughing time, and the tall Giraffe
Lifted his head, and began to laugh:
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
And the Chimpanzee on the gingko tree
Swung merrily down with a Tee Hee Hee:
Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
'It's certainly not against the law!'
Croaked Justice Crow with a loud guffaw
Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!
- William Jay Smith, 'Laughing Time'. Dec 5, 2008
sonofgroucho My wife says I did this this morning----but I can't remember why! Mar 28, 2007
chained_bear One of the great things about guffaw is its ability to be either noun or verb without changing spelling or pronunciation. Feb 21, 2007
andrew.simone Well, then I am glad to hear it. Feb 8, 2007
chained_bear I concur. There should be far more guffawing in the world. Thanks for doing your part, andrew.simone. Feb 4, 2007
reesetee Never too much guffawing, in my opinion. :-) Feb 2, 2007
andrew.simone I do this too much Dec 9, 2006