Laughing loudly and openly with big, uncontrolled bursts of laughter.
Origin uncertain, but likely from Scottish or Middle English. The word may imitate the sound of loud laughter itself, which is why it sounds so much like the noise it describes.
Guffawing is actually contagious in a weird way — when one person bursts into loud, uncontrollable laughter, it triggers the same response in others, which is why laugh tracks on old TV shows work to make us laugh at jokes that aren't even that funny.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.