Puff
[pʌf]
Definition
(noun.) a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke); 'he took a puff on his pipe'; 'he took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly'.
(noun.) exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes).
(noun.) a light inflated pastry or puff shell.
(noun.) a short light gust of air.
(verb.) blow hard and loudly; 'he huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain'.
(verb.) to swell or cause to enlarge, 'Her faced puffed up from the drugs'; 'puffed out chests'.
(verb.) speak in a blustering or scornful manner; 'A puffing kind of man'.
(verb.) praise extravagantly; 'The critics puffed up this Broadway production'.
(verb.) smoke and exhale strongly; 'puff a cigar'; 'whiff a pipe'.
(verb.) suck in or take (air); 'draw a deep breath'; 'draw on a cigarette'.
(verb.) make proud or conceited; 'The sudden fame puffed her ego'.
(adj.) gathered for protruding fullness; 'puff sleeves' .
Inputed by Doris--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff.
(n.) Anything light and filled with air.
(n.) A puffball.
(n.) a kind of light pastry.
(n.) A utensil of the toilet for dusting the skin or hair with powder.
(n.) An exaggerated or empty expression of praise, especially one in a public journal.
(n.) To blow in puffs, or with short and sudden whiffs.
(n.) To blow, as an expression of scorn; -- with at.
(n.) To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion.
(n.) To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.
(n.) To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
(v. t.) To drive with a puff, or with puffs.
(v. t.) To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
(v. t.) To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air.
(v. t.) To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, or the like; -- often with up.
(v. t.) To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
(a.) Puffed up; vain.
Typed by Clint
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Whiff, sudden gust.
v. n. [1]. Blow in puffs.[2]. Pant, breathe hard.
v. a. [1]. Blow.[2]. Praise (extravagantly).
Checker: Virgil
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Flatter, advertise, hawk, ventilate
ANT:Squash, disparage, lash, chastise, blast
Inputed by Jeff
Definition
v.i. to blow in puffs or whiffs: to swell or fill with air: to breathe with vehemence: to blow at in contempt: to bustle about.—v.t. to drive with a puff: to swell with a wind: to praise in exaggerated terms.—n. a sudden forcible breath: a sudden blast of wind: a gust or whiff: a fungus ball containing dust: anything light and porous or swollen and light: a kind of light pastry: a part of a fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle: a light ball or pad for dusting powder on the skin &c.: an exaggerated expression of praise.—ns. Puff′-add′er a large venomous African serpent; Puff′-ball a dried fungus ball-shaped and full of dust; Puff′-bird a South American bird resembling the kingfisher in form but living on insects; Puff′-box a box for holding powder for the toilet and a puff for applying it.—adj. Puffed gathered up into rounded ridges as a sleeve.—ns. Puff′er one who puffs: one who raises the prices at an auction in order to excite the eagerness of the bidders to the advantage of the seller; Puff′ery puffing or extravagant praise.—adv. Puff′ily.—ns. Puff′iness state of being puffy or turgid: intumescence; Puff′ing the act of praising extravagantly.—adv. Puff′ingly.—n. Puff′-paste a short flaky paste for pastry.—adj. Puff′y puffed out with air or any soft matter: tumid: bombastic: coming in puffs.—Puff up (B.) to inflate.
Typed by Freddie
Examples
- There was pastry upon a dish; he selected an apricot puff and a damson tart. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- George said, with a puff of his cigar, which went soaring up skywards. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I light it--draw one puff--breathe the smoke out--there it goes--it's Dolls! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- He could only bite his nails and puff away to the next Defaulter. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I was smoking a big cigar, and when a man looked in I would give a big puff, and every time they saw that they would go away and begin again. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Mr Pancks worked his way in, came alongside the desk, made himself fast by leaning his arms upon it, and started conversation with a puff and a snort. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Can she make your real flecky paste, as melts in your mouth, and lies all up like a puff? Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- As she entered and closed the door on herself, he sank down in a chair, and gazed and sighed and puffed portentously. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Karkov, a man of middle height with a gray, heavy, sagging face, puffed eye pouches and a pendulous under-lip called to him in a dyspeptic voice. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Mr. Farebrother puffed a few moments in silence, Lydgate not caring to know more about the Garths. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- And this, said he, dandling my hands up and down in his, as he puffed at his pipe,--and this is the gentleman what I made! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- One half of those vain follies were puffed into mine ear by that perfidious Abbot Wolfram, and you may now judge if he is a counsellor to be trusted. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- To be puffed by ignorance was not only humiliating, but perilous, and not more enviable than the reputation of the weather-prophet. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- They ain't Pills, or Hair-Washes, or Invigorating Nervous Essences, to be puffed in that way! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered between the puffs of his cigarette. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Then he would take another half-dozen puffs with an air of profound meditation and look at them again. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The ribbon, flourishing in puffs and bows about the head, was of the sort called love-ribbon. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- A breeze from the north drove little puffs of white cloud across an ultramarine sky, with a bright sea running under it. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- If the disk turns fast enough, the puffs blend into a musical sound, whose pitch rises higher and higher as the disk moves faster and faster, and produces more and more puffs each second. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- She began to saunter about the room, examining the bookshelves between the puffs of her cigarette-smoke. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Does your qualification lie in the superior knowledge of men which accepts, courts, and puffs this man? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- In 1813 Puffing Billy was built by Wm. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Even in the neighborhood of the mines people soon grew used to seeing Puffing Billy, as the engine was called, traveling back and forth from the pit to the quay, and took it quite for granted. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- But the Tug, suddenly lightened, and untrammelled by having any weight in tow, was already puffing away into the distance. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- You were always a noble woman, Anna, said the old man, puffing at his cigarette. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I heard a heavy puffing and blowing coming towards us, and soon Mr. Omer, shorter-winded than of yore, but not much older-looking, stood before me. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Typist: Maxine