# puff
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /pʌf/
* (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /pɐf/
** Audio (General Australian):(file)
* (Northern England) IPA: /pʊf/
* Rhymes: -ʌf

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

puff (countable and uncountable, plural puffs)
* (countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
* (uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.
    Synonym: wind
    out of puff
* (countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.
    puff of smoke
* (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, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184:"The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"
* (informal, countable) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.
    Synonym: drag
** 1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969-1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon‎, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, 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.
* (uncountable, slang) The drug cannabis.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana
* (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.
* A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.
    a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder
* (countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.
    Synonyms: pastry, cream puff
    cream puff
* A puffball.
** 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English‎, London: Edward Blount, page 47:Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.
* A powder puff.
* (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”, in 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".
* (genetics) A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
* (slang, dated, UK) Life.
** 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters:Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?
* (derogatory, chiefly Northern England, slang) Synonym of poof: a gay man; especially one who is effeminate.

##### Derived terms

* air puff test
* cheese puff
* cheesy puff
* crab puff
* cream puff
* curry puff
* huff and puff
* in a puff of smoke
* love in a puff
* nun's puff
* pizza puff
* powder puff
* puff adder
* puff and darts
* puff-box
* puffer
* puffery
* puff-fish
* puffing
* puff-leg
* puff-legged
* puff paste
* puff pastry
* puff piece
* puff pipe
* puff-puff
* puff, puff, pass
* sip and puff
* super-puff

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

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.

#### Verb

puff (third-person singular simple present puffs, present participle puffing, simple past and past participle puffed)
* (intransitive) To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
** 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:Still on the down line, the engine puffed away to the South, and in a few moments had disappeared in the darkness!
* (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: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; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC: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.
* (transitive, archaic) To advertise.
* To blow as an expression of scorn.
** 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.
* 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
* To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
** 1633, George Herbert, The Quip:Then came brave Glory puffing by.
* 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:The clearing north will puff the clouds away.
* 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.
* To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.
    a bladder puffed with air
** c. 1590–1592 (date written), 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, [Act I, scene ii]:the sea puffed up with winds
* To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.
** 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English:puffed up with military success
* To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
** 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, 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:puffed with wonderful skill

##### Derived terms

* outpuff
* puffed
* puffing Billy
* puffing pig
* puff one's chest
* puff out
* puff the magic dragon
* puff up

##### Translations
## Finnish
### Etymology

From English poof.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpufː/, [ˈpufː]
* Rhymes: -ufː
* Hyphenation: puff

### Interjection

puff
* poof (deflating object or a magical disappearance)

## Hungarian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈpufː]
* Hyphenation: puff
* Rhymes: -ufː

### Etymology 1

From German puffen.

#### Noun

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

##### Declension
### Etymology 2

Back-formation of puffad, puffant, puffaszt.

#### Interjection

puff
* bang! pouf! (onomatopoeia representing a sudden sharp noise or crashing sound)

### References

* ↑ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN
* ↑ puff in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)

### Further reading

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

## Swedish
### Noun

puff c
* a puff (of gas or smoke)
    De använder rökpuffar som röksignalerThey use puffs of smoke as smoke signals
* a nudge (gentle push)
** (figuratively) a nudge, boost (in a positive direction)
    Synonym: (harder) knuff
    få en puff i rätt riktningget a nudge in the right direction
    Artisten fick en puff av att nämnas i det populära programmetThe artist received a boost from being mentioned on the popular program
** (journalism) a blurb
** a poke (on Facebook)
* a (storage) ottoman stool
* a (cylindrical) pouf
* a puff (portion of fabric gathered up on the sleeve or shoulder of a garment), puffing
* (usually in the plural) a puff (puffed grain)
    KalaspuffarHoney Monster Puffs ("Party puffs")
* (capitalized) Dale (from Chip 'n' Dale)
    Piff och PuffChip 'n' Dale
* blurb (short promotional text)

#### Derived terms

* puffärm

#### Related terms

* puffa

#### See also

* bloss
* puffra

### References

* puff in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* puff in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* puff in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)