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huff and puff

verb

To breathe heavily, especially after rigorous exercise.

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Meanings

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

present singular third person huffs and puffs · participle present huffing and puffing · participle past huffed and puffed · past huffed and puffed

To breathe heavily, especially after rigorous exercise.
They were short of ideas, huffing and puffing their way towards a demoralising defeat.
August 16 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Swansea upstage Manchester United in Louis van Gaal’s Premier League bow," guardian.co.uk

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with huff and puff

through enough tough rough bluff cough dough cuff buff slough huff ruff snuff fluff tuff hough clough gruff scuff scruff guff rebuff chough debuff

Cite this entry

APA

huff and puff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/huff%20and%20puff

MLA

“huff and puff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/huff%20and%20puff. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “huff and puff,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/huff%20and%20puff.

Source: huff and puff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.