waft

present singular third person wafts · participle present wafting · participle past wafted · past wafted · alternative wheft

1. ergativeTo (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.

   A breeze came in through the open window and wafted her sensuous perfume into my eager nostrils.

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   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.

   1914, Hesiod, “To Aphrodite”, in Hugh G. Evelyn-White, transl., The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Loeb Classical Library; 57), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., →OCLC

   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 […]

   1922, James Joyce, chapter 13, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, →OCLC

   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.

   1940 May, “The Why and the Wherefore: Pulverised Fuel Experiment”, in Railway Magazine, page 318

   The enticing, homey scent of apple pie wafted into the hallway as she beckoned them into her lair.

   2011 April 12, Beth Kendrick, chapter 29, in The Bake-Off, New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →ISBN

   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.

   2016 March 27, Daniel Taylor, “Eric Dier seals England’s stunning comeback against Germany”, in The Guardian, London

   Synonyms: breathe

2. intransitiveTo be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.

   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.

   2005 June 9, Michael M. Grynbaum, “An Entryway That Eats Together Stays Together”, in The Harvard Crimson, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2025

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   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.

   1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: [s.n.], OCLC 497010563, Act III, scene i; republished as “Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy”, in Walter Scott, editor, The Works of John Dryden, now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Walter Scott, Esq., volume V, London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle Street, by James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh, 1808, OCLC 317070632, page 226

3. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.

   […] but ſoft: who wafts vs yonder.

   c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene iv, page 89

plural wafts · alternative wheft

1. A light breeze.

   It lay before him white and ghaistly, with mist blowing in wafts across it and a slow swaying of the tides.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

2. Something (such as an odor or perfume) that is carried through the air.

   Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously.

   1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, London: Methuen, →ISBN

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   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.[…]"

   2010 September, “The SLM Calendar”, in St. Louis Magazine, volume 16, number 9, St. Louis, Mo.: Hartmann Pub. Co., →ISSN, page 170

3. nauticalA flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal; a waif, a wheft.
4. slangball gamesA loose noncommittal shot, usually played to a ball pitched short of length and well wide of the off stump.