Guffaw
//ɡəˈfɔː// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A boisterous laugh.
"On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat, bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingled guffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage and humiliation."
- 2 a burst of deep loud hearty laughter wordnet
Verb
- 1 To laugh boisterously. intransitive
"He guffawed at his adversaries."
- 2 laugh boisterously wordnet
Example
More examples"I guffaw until I can laugh no more!"
Etymology
Early 18th century, originally Scots, probably onomatopoeic.
More for "guffaw"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.