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Glite Dictionary
😂 Loud laugh 🙃 A foolish person 🐴 Donkey sound 😆 To laugh harshly
to heehaw

to heehaw

9.3
To laugh loudly in a harsh way like a donkey
  • verb
  • /ˈhiːhɔː/
translation icon : rebuznar
  • During the party, my friend heehawed loudly, making everyone burst into laughter at his silly antics.

Examples

  • The comedian's joke was so funny that the audience started to heehaw with laughter.

  • She is really precious, sweet, and pretty as a flower, Mrs. Danford is, and she always has me heehawing about some meanness she performed at the garden club.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • It took me a long time to learn to heehaw, but listen, HEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAW!

    Fiction book (1999)

  • I've learned to heehaw and I've learned to honk, but I can't learn to squeak and I am a mouse!" he sobbed.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • "Outraged by Kroton's treachery and ingratitude, determined to have my revenge, I only wheezed and heehawed like any common ass.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • "The only horse I ever saw with two asses on it," Wee Wooly Willie said, and the men standing around leaning over shovels and grubbing hoes heehawed.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • When the donkey passed by, the children couldn't help but heehaw in imitation of its loud bray.

Synonyms

to cackle
vsto heehaw
18 6.0

To make a loud high sound like a hen or laugh in a loud harsh way

is lower pitched and rougher, like a coarse animal call
to roar
vsto heehaw
17 2.4

To laugh loudly because something is very funny

is a loud rough animallike sound rather than joyful uncontrolled laughter
to bray
vsto heehaw
3 8.4

To laugh loudly in a harsh unpleasant way

emphasizes the loud harsh sound itself rather than the animal comparison
to yock
vsto heehaw
  • UK
9.9

To laugh loudly because something is very funny

is a loud harsh animallike sound not mainly tied to humor
to bellylaugh
vsto heehaw
  • Informal
5.2

Laugh loudly and deeply, making your stomach move

is a loud rough animallike sound rather than deep hearty laughter

Antonyms

to hold back one's laughter
3.7

To stop yourself from making a sound when something is funny

How Loud

to heehaw
9.3
to guffaw
4 6.5
to laugh
∞ 1.0
to chuckle
237 2.0
titter
3 7.2

Surface Forms

heehaw infinitive
heehawed past
heehawed past participle
heehawing present participle
heehaws third person singular

Morphology

heehaw = hee + haw (transparent) = hee + haw

As a verb meaning to make a braying or harsh laugh-like sound, the derivation from the onomatopoeic compound is direct and predictable.

Etymology

Heehaw comes from copying a donkey's loud 'bray'—the sound 'hee-haw'. To heehaw is to make a loud, harsh laugh or bray, just like a donkey.