guffaw
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
has guffawedperfect 3rd person singular
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have guffawedperfect
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is guffawingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been guffawingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are guffawingprogressive
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am guffawingprogressive 1st person singular
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guffawssingular 3rd person
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have been guffawingperfect progressive
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guffawingparticiple
Past
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had guffawedperfect
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was guffawingprogressive singular
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were guffawingprogressive plural
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had been guffawingperfect progressive
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guffawedparticiple
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guffawedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of guffaw
First recorded in 1710–20; perhaps imitative
Explanation
A guffaw is a belly laugh: a laugh that bubbles up with good feeling and plenty of volume. At the end of a stressful day of work, it’s good to have some guffaws with your friends. Guffaw operates just like the word laugh: you can give a guffaw, or you can guffaw. It comes from the Scottish word gawf, which is onomatopoetic, meaning that it’s spelled the way it sounds. Imagine a big happy Scotsman snorting "gawf, gawf, gawf" at the end of a joke, and you’ll know what a guffaw is.
Vocabulary lists containing guffaw
Instead of "Said": Words for Upbeat Banter
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The Hobbit
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The former armed robber John McVicar gigged at the Guffaw Club in Essex; disgraced Scottish socialist Tommy Sheridan took a show to the Edinburgh Fringe.
From The Guardian • Jul. 23, 2012
Mr. Guffaw said, 'We know where these hasps are, but cannot reveal their whereabouts at present.'
From Time Magazine Archive
"Guffaw" I think is the noise he made.
From Fairy Prince and Other Stories by Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell
Guffaw, guf-faw′, v.i. to laugh loudly.—n. a loud laugh.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
