waft
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
nautical
sports
transport
Etymology: From Middle English waften, of uncertain origin. Possibly from unattested Old English *wafettan, from wafian (“to wave”) + -ettan, or perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch wachten (“to guard, provide for”).
See also German wabern (“to waft”), Faroese veiftra (“to wave”) and Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”).
Base: wafian
Affixes: -ettan
Inflected forms:
form: wafts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: wafting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: wafted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: wafted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: wheft
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: wafts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: wheft
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
pos: verb
tags: ergative
examples: A breeze came in through the open window and wafted her sensuous perfume into my eager nostrils.
I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously.
Through the open window of the church the fragrant incense was wafted and with it the fragrant names of her who was conceived without stain of original sin […]
The experiment was abandoned when one fine day spontaneous combustion of the pulverised coal in the container occurred, and a black cloud of the very finely divided fuel rose into the air by the force of the explosion, and was slowly wafted by the prevailing breeze over the town, upon which it descended with the resemblance of black snow, but with the dissimilarity that it did not melt.
The enticing, homey scent of apple pie wafted into the hallway as she beckoned them into her lair.
Dele Alli, playing with a peacock-like spread of feathers, wafted one chance over an exposed net for a miss that was completely out of place with the rest of his display.
gloss: To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Unhappy Aureng-Zebe is in disgrace; / And your Morat, proclaimed the successor, / Is called, to awe the city with his power. / Those trumpets his triumphant entry tell, / And now the shouts waft near the citadel.
They gather one by one, trickling into the shady courtyard, the familiar hum of Mass. Ave. wafting in from behind brick buildings and iron gates.
gloss: To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
pos: verb
examples: […] but ſoft: who wafts vs yonder.
gloss: A light breeze.
pos: noun
examples: It lay before him white and ghaistly, with mist blowing in wafts across it and a slow swaying of the tides.
gloss: Something (such as an odor or perfume) that is carried through the air.
pos: noun
examples: Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously.
Patrol Magazine says of this Oxford, Miss., band: "Guitars are responsible for every noise in Colour Revolt's mix—not a single note of piano, waft of synthesizer, or evidence of electronic tampering are to be found.[…]"
gloss: A flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal; a waif, a wheft.
pos: noun
gloss: A loose noncommittal shot, usually played to a ball pitched short of length and well wide of the off stump.
pos: noun
tags: slang
Derived words: waft off
waft over
Translations: