▪ I. guffaw, n. orig. Sc.
(gʌˈfɔː)
Also 8 Sc. gaffa(w, 9 guffaugh, Sc. guffaa, guffa'.
[Echoic; cf. the related vb. and gawf n. Sc.]
A burst of coarse laughter; a loud or boisterous laugh.
| 1720 Ramsay Wealth 121 Syne circling wheels the flattering gaffaw, As well they may, he gars their beards wag a'. 1728 ― Fables, Caterpillar & Ant 28 The airy Ant syne turn'd awa, And left him with a proud gaffa. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxv, That silly fliskmahoy..has..done naething but laugh and greet, the skirl at the tail o' guffa', for twa days successfully. 1821 Blackw. Mag. VIII. 619 The fidging Prentices, their elbows claw, And speak their triumph in a loud guffāā. Ibid. X. 572/2 Horse laughter, and loud gaffaws. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Spectre of Tapp., At the last he burst out into an absolute ‘guffaw’. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xxiv. 503 It is no senseless loud guffaw. 1887 Browning Parleyings i. With Bernard de Mandeville iv. 10 This friend—(Whose groan I hear, with guffaugh at the end Disposing of mock-melancholy). 1891 E. W. Gosse Gossip in Library xx. 260 There was a general guffaw of laughter. |
| fig. 18.. D. Jerrold in Smiles Self-Help xi. (1859) 268, The world will get tired..of this eternal guffaw about all things. |
▪ II. guffaw, v. orig. Sc.
(gʌˈfɔː)
Also Sc. 8–9 gaffaw, 9 gaffaa.
[Echoic; cf. the related n. and gawf v. Sc.]
intr. To laugh loudly or boisterously; to laugh coarsely or harshly.
| 1721 Ramsay Petit. to Whin-Bush Club 12 To bend wi' ye and spend wi' ye An evening, and gaffaw. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 19 They Gaffaw and smirkle in their play. 1821 Carlyle Early Lett. (1886) I. 362, I have been dining and gaffaaing with one Nichol, a Mathematical Teacher here. 1832–53 Vedder in Whistle-binkie (Scot. Songs) Ser. iii. 83 M'Rory guffaw'd like a laughing ‘hyenar’. 1860 Sala Lady Chesterf. 31 How men grin and guffaw behind her back. 1879 Browning Ned Bratts 254 ‘It comes of heat and beer!’—hark how he guffaws plain! |
b. trans. To say with a guffaw; to express by means of a guffaw.
| 1865 J. Hatton Bitter Sweets viii, Mat shrugged his shoulders and guffawed his satisfaction. 1893 Gunter Miss Dividends 130 ‘Reckon he's down on your card a few times more’, he guffaws. |
Hence guˈffawing vbl. n. and ppl. a., guˈffawingly adv.
| 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 790 Sydney Smith has turned the laugh against the Bishop most triumphantly and guffawingly. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 47 Glorious guffawing all night and immeasurable murder all day. 1894 Blackmore Perlycross 425 You guffawing jackanapes. |