puff
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pʌf/
ipa: /pɐf/
ipa: /pʊf/
rhymes: -ʌf
Forms: form: puffs
Etymology: From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), imitative. Cognate with Middle Low German puf, pof.
Senses: glosses: A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
examples: text: out of puff
synonyms: wind
glosses: The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.
examples: text: puff of smoke
glosses: A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.
examples: text: to every puff of wind a slave
ref: 1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs:
text: "The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184:
glosses: A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 572:
synonyms: drag
glosses: An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.
synonyms: word: bhang
word: benj
word: boo
word: broccoli
word: bud
word: buddha
word: cannabis
word: cheeba
word: choof
word: daccha
word: dank
word: devil's lettuce
word: djamba
word: doja
word: doobage
word: dope
word: endo
word: gage
word: ganja
word: ganj
word: grass
word: green
word: greenery
word: hash
word: hashish
word: hemp
word: herb
word: Mary Jane
word: MJ
word: marihoochie
word: marijuana
word: Mary Joanna
word: method
word: mezz
word: muggle
word: mull
word: pot
word: puff
word: reefer
word: sens
word: sensimillia
word: sensimilla
word: shit
word: sweetleaf
word: tea
word: Texas tea
word: trees
word: twig
word: wacky tobaccy
word: weed
word: yarndie
word: zaza
word: zombie
glosses: The drug cannabis.
examples: text: […] though I care not one straw for the personal puffs of which I myself am so often the subject […]
ref: 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:
text: […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.
ref: 1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246:
glosses: A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
examples: text: a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder
glosses: A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.
examples: text: cream puff
synonyms: pastry
cream puff
glosses: A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.
examples: text: Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.
ref: 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, page 47:
glosses: A puffball.
glosses: A powder puff.
examples: text: 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?
ref: 1842, “A Paper on Puffing”, in Ainsworth's Magazine:
text: 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.
ref: 1848, Mrs. White, “Puffs and Puffing”, in Sharpe's London Magazine:
text: He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".
ref: 2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii:
glosses: 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.
topics: biology
genetics
medicine
natural-sciences
sciences
glosses: A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
examples: text: Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?
ref: 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters:
glosses: Life.
glosses: Synonym of poof: a gay man; especially one who is effeminate.
synonyms: word: poof
extra: 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