Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hearty, boisterous burst of laughter.
  • intransitive verb To laugh heartily and boisterously.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To laugh loudly and coarsely or rudely.
  • noun A loud, rude burst of laughter; a horse-laugh.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A loud burst of laughter; a horse laugh.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A boisterous laugh
  • verb intransitive To laugh boisterously.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb laugh boisterously
  • noun a burst of deep loud hearty laughter

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably onomatopoetic.

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Examples

  • My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.

    Note(s) to self M-mv 2004

  • My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.

    Archive 2004-05-01 M-mv 2004

  • My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.

    04.04 M-mv 2004

  • My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.

    04.04 M-mv 2004

  • My guffaw is muffled by the sound of Cheerios cascading to the floor.

    05.04 M-mv 2004

  • 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!”

    A few thoughts on Microsoft : #comments 2008

  • 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.

    Archive 2009-12-01 Scotti Cohn 2009

  • 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.

    Mickey Kaus on Sniggergate. Ann Althouse 2009

  • 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.

    Chicago Curiosities Scotti Cohn 2009

  • 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.

    Make or Break or, The Rich Man's Daughter Oliver Optic 1859

Comments

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  • I do this too much

    December 9, 2006

  • Never too much guffawing, in my opinion. :-)

    February 2, 2007

  • I concur. There should be far more guffawing in the world. Thanks for doing your part, andrew.simone.

    February 4, 2007

  • Well, then I am glad to hear it.

    February 8, 2007

  • One of the great things about guffaw is its ability to be either noun or verb without changing spelling or pronunciation.

    February 21, 2007

  • My wife says I did this this morning----but I can't remember why!

    March 28, 2007

  • 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'.

    December 5, 2008

  • 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

  • *bares teeth while laughing*

    *chokes*

    May 15, 2011

  • Oh dear! Didn't mean to endanger you!

    May 16, 2011