wafture

plural waftures

1. archaiccountableuncountableSomething that is wafted, such as a smell or sound.

   Stray waftures of invisible gases bit his eyes and made them sting.

   1911, Jack London, “The Seed of McCoy”, in South Sea Tales, New York: Macmillan, page 267

   3 more examples

   lower roofs, from which, as from hanging gardens, floated waftures sweet as the perfumed airs of the Indian isles

   1873, Lew Wallace, chapter 8, in The Fair God, Boston: James R. Osgood, page 253

   It is doubtful, however, if she would have allowed quite so deep a wafture of lamentation to have passed her lips had she been alone.

   1936, John Cowper Powys, chapter 9, in Maiden Castle, Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, published 2001, page 416

   and sniff at your waftures / to analyze your lust / and smell the pheromones of everyone you kissed,

   2016, Robert Kelly, “XO”, in Opening the Seals, Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia, page 154

2. archaiccountableuncountableThe act of wafting something.

   1785, Henry Boyd (translator), Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Dublin: P. Byrne, Canto 1, p. 198, Then those that sing amid the purging flame, / Inspir’d by ling’ring hope at last to claim / A tardy wafture to the happy shore.

   3 more examples

   […] you answer’d not, / But, with an angry wafture of your hand, / Gave sign for me to leave you:

   c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1

   […] the gentle Thames […] landed me, in the wafture of a placid wave or two, alone, safe and inglorious, somewhere at the foot of Lambeth palace.

   1821 October, Charles Lamb, “Witches and Other Night-Fears”, in The London Magazine, volume 4, number 22, page 387

   The trees […] smile and nod and chatter, / Spreading their skirts most graciously, / Gesturing gayly with each wafture of the breeze.

   1922, Angela Morgan, “Afternoon Tea”, in Because of Beauty, New York: Dodd, Mead, page 105