fluff
pronunciation
How to pronounce fluff in British English:
UK [flʌf]
How to pronounce fluff in American English:
US [flʌf]
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- Noun:
- any light downy material
- something of little value or significance
- a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)
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- Verb:
- make a mess of, destroy or ruin
- erect or fluff up
- ruffle (one's hair) by combing towards the ends towards the scalp, for a full effect
Word Origin
- fluff (n.)
- "light, feathery stuff," 1790, apparently a variant of floow "wooly substance, down, nap" (1580s), perhaps from Flemish vluwe, from French velu "shaggy, hairy," from Latin vellus "fleece," or Latin villus "tuft of hair" (see velvet). OED suggests fluff as "an imitative modification" of floow, "imitating the action of puffing away some light substance." Slang bit of fluff "young woman" is from 1903. The marshmallow confection Fluff dates to c. 1920 in Massachusetts, U.S.
- fluff (v.)
- "to shake into a soft mass," 1875, from fluff (n.). Meaning "make a mistake" is from 1884, originally in theater slang. Related: Fluffed; fluffing.
Example
- 1. Other paper makers have expanded their fluff production in recent years .
- 2. In 2011 , fluff accounted for only 2 % of ip 's global sales .
- 3. The fluff is the fungus fruiting . Its function is to make more spores .
- 4. Atlanta-based georgia-pacific llc , the world 's largest producer of fluff , is converting part of an alabama mill to produce more .
- 5. Fluff pulp represents a small portion of an overall pulp and paper market of about 450 million tons annually , he says .