puff

plural puffs

1. countableA sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
2. slanguncountableThe ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

   out of puff

   Synonyms: wind

3. countableA small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

   puff of smoke

4. countableA sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.

   to every puff of wind a slave

   1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs

   1 more example

   "The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184

5. countableinformalAn act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

   1 more example

   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.

   1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 572

   Synonyms: drag

6. slanguncountableThe drug cannabis.

   Synonyms: bhang, benj, boo, broccoli, bud, buddha, cannabis, cheeba

7. countableA flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.

   […] though I care not one straw for the personal puffs of which I myself am so often the subject […]

   1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major

   1 more example

   […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.

   1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246

8. countableuncountableA portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.

   a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder

9. countableA light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.

   cream puff

   Synonyms: pastry, cream puff

10. countableuncountableA puffball.

    Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.

    1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, page 47

11. countableuncountableA powder puff.
12. countabledatedslanguncountableA puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price.
13. countabledatedslanguncountableA scam of that kind.

    He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".

    2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii

    2 more examples

    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?

    1842, “A Paper on Puffing”, in Ainsworth's 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.

    1848, Mrs. White, “Puffs and Puffing”, in Sharpe's London Magazine

14. countableuncountablebiologyA region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
15. UKcountabledatedslanguncountableLife.

    Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?

    1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

    1 more example

    Isn't this the chance of a lifetime? Have either of you ever made a couple of quids at once in your puff before—pinching goods from the back of delivery vans and smooching lead off empty houses?

    1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

16. Northern EnglandcountablederogatoryslanguncountableSynonym of poof: a gay man; especially one who is effeminate.

    Synonyms: poof

present singular third person puffs · participle present puffing · participle past puffed · past puffed

1. intransitiveTo emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.

   Still on the down line, the engine puffed away to the South, and in a few moments had disappeared in the darkness!

   1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53

2. intransitiveTo pant.

   By and by comes the ass back again, Puffing and Blowing, from the Chase.

   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

   1 more example

   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.

   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

3. archaictransitiveTo advertise.
4. To blow as an expression of scorn.

   It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

   1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

5. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

   'tis easy for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge , and be puff'd up by it

   1690, Robert Boyle, The Christian Virtuoso

6. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.

   Then came brave Glory puffing by.

   1633, George Herbert, The Quip

7. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

   The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

   1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

8. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.

   I puff the prostitute away.

   1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace

9. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.

   a bladder puffed with air

   1 more example

   the sea puffed up with winds

   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]

10. To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.

    puffed up with military success

    1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English

11. To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.

    puffed with wonderful skill

    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

    Synonyms: jolly, lay it on thick, soothe, brush up to, collogue, flatter, flatterize, glaver