puff

• IPA^(key): /pʌf/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf

From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), imitative. Cognate with Middle Low German puf, pof.

puff (countable and uncountable, plural puffs)

1. (countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
2. (uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

   Synonym: wind

   out of puff

3. (countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

   puff of smoke

4. (countable) A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
   • 1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs

     to every puff of wind a slave

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184:

     "The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"

5. (informal, countable) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

   Synonym: drag

   • 1978, Nixon, Richard, “The Presidency 1969-1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon‎, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, LCCN 77-87793, OCLC 760525066, OL 7561812M, page 572:

     When I went to bed that night I found that I could not get to sleep. At five o'clock I got up and took a hot bath. I climbed back into bed and lighted one of the Chinese-made "Great Wall" cigars my hosts had thoughtfully provided, and sat puffing on the cigar and making notes about the events of the momentous week.

6. (uncountable, slang) The drug cannabis.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

7. (countable) A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
   • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major

     […] though I care not one straw for the personal puffs of which I myself am so often the subject […]

   • 1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties (volume 24, page 246)

     […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.

8. A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.

   a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder

9. (countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.

   Synonyms: pastry, cream puff

   cream puff

10. A puffball.
    • 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, p. 47,

      Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.

11. A powder puff.
12. (dated, slang) A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; an act or scam of that type.
    • 1842, "A Paper on Puffing", Ainsworth's Magazine

      Is nothing to be said in praise of the "Emporiums" and "Repositories" and "Divans," which formerly were mere insignificant tailors', toymen's, and tobacconists' shops? Is the transition from the barber's pole to the revolving bust of the perruquier, nothing? — the leap from the bare counter-traversed shop to the carpeted and mirrored saloon of trade, nothing? Are they not, one and all, practical puffs, intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?

    • 1848, Mrs. White, "Puffs and Puffing", in Sharpe's London Magazine

      Here the duke is made the vehicle of the tailor's advertisement, and the prelusive compliments, ostensibly meant for his grace, merge into a covert recommendation of the coat. Several specimens might be given of this species of puff, which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite form with booksellers, professional men, &c.

    • 2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii

      He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".

13. (genetics) A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
14. (slang, dated, UK) Life.
    • 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

      Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?

15. (derogatory, slang, Britain, particularly northern UK) Synonym of poof: a male homosexual, especially an effeminate one.

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). Compare Dutch puffen, German Low German puffen, German puffen, Danish puffe, Swedish puffa.

puff (third-person singular simple present puffs, present participle puffing, simple past and past participle puffed)

1. (intransitive) To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
2. (intransitive) To pant.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

     By and by comes the ass back again, Puffing and Blowing, from the Chase.

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., OCLC 18478577; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 1, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, OCLC 988016180:

     Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing.

3. (transitive, archaic) To advertise.
4. To blow as an expression of scorn.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:

     It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

5. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.
   • 1690, Robert Boyle, The Christian Virtuoso

     'tis easy for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge , and be puff'd up by it

6. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
   • 1633, George Herbert, The Quip

     Then came brave Glory puffing by.

7. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.
   • 1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:

     The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

8. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
   • 1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace

     I puff the prostitute away.

9. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.

   a bladder puffed with air

   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     the sea puffed up with winds

10. To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.
    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English

      puffed up with military success

11. To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
    • 1856 December​, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson [from the Encyclopædia Britannica]”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, OCLC 30956848:

      puffed with wonderful skill

• outpuff
• puffed
• puff up
• puff out

From English poof.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpufː/, [ˈpufː]
• Rhymes: -ufː
• Syllabification^(key): puff

puff

1. poof (deflating object or a magical disappearance)

• IPA^(key): [ˈpufː]
• Hyphenation: puff
• Rhymes: -ufː

From German puffen.[1]

puff (plural puffok)

1. pouf, puff, pouffe (a backless, rounded, cushioned low stool)
2. (dressmaking) pouf (on the upper part of the sleeves)
3. puff, powder puff (a pad of soft material used for the application of cosmetic powder to the face)

Back-formation from puffad, puffant, puffaszt.[2]

puff

1. bang! pouf! (onomatopoeia representing a sudden sharp noise or crashing sound)

• (pouf, puff, pouffe): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (bang): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN