phut

1. A representation of the sound resembling the release of a blast of steam or exhaust gas; a representation of the sound of a fast but small puff of wind.

   Then she heard the phut-phut-phut of an unfamiliar boat engine.

   2007, Susan Gates, Beyond the Billboard

   2 more examples

   So I brought out two or three conjuring tricks that I had purchased in town, and Broxby showed them off while I tried to play one or two tricks with cards; but, somehow or another, when Mrs. Major Carruthers drew a card, I had forgotten the trick, and she had to draw another card which she dropped; and, when it was on the carpet, we both stooped together to pick it up; and you've no idea how confusing it was, for we knocked our heads together, when I distinctly heard some one go "Phut" in precisely the same way as a turkey-cock will when strutting; when, to my intense dismay, I again found that the Major was scowling at me fiercely.

   1867, George Manyille Fenn, “A Horror of Horrors”, in Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches For The Season, Lodnon: George Routledge and Sons, page 94

   "Phut." Something whipped into the ground beside him and there was a pinpoint flash from the cabin. "B-o-i-n-g-g-g." There was another flash and the bullet hit the rail and whined off into the night.

   1956, Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever, published 1965, page 100

plural phuts

1. The sound made by a sudden release of steam or gas; the sound of a fast but small puff of wind.

   Even an expensive cracker can go off with a phut, not a bang, and burst to reveal one paper hat, one tired motto and a piece of plastic jewellery.

   1980, Gillian Cooke, A Celebration of Christmas

   1 more example

   There was a sharp ‘phut’, no louder than a bubble of air escaping from a tube of toothpaste. No other noise at all, and suddenly Le Chiffre had grown another eye, a third eye on a level with the other two, right where the thick nose started to jut out below the forehead.

   1953, Ian Fleming, “A Crag-like Face”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 129

present singular third person phuts · participle present phutting · participle past phutted · past phutted

1. To produce such a sound.

1. uncountableA Polish type of syrup made of sugar beet juice.