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puff

Pronunciation: /pʌf/

The English word “puff” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
  2. The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.
  3. A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.
  4. A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
  5. An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.
  6. The drug cannabis.
  7. A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
  8. A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.
  9. A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.
  10. A puffball.
  11. A powder puff.
  12. A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price.
  13. A scam of that kind.
  14. A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
  15. Life.
  16. Synonym of poof: a gay man; especially one who is effeminate.

verb

  1. To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
  2. To pant.
  3. To advertise.
  4. To blow as an expression of scorn.

Etymology

From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), from Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)- (“to blow, puff”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch puf (“puff, wind, fart”), Middle Low German puf, pof (“puff”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.