puff
pronunciation
How to pronounce puff in British English:
UK [pʌf]
How to pronounce puff in American English:
US [pʌf]
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- Noun:
- a short light gust of air
- a light inflated pastry or puff shell
- exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes)
- bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together
- a soft spherical object made from fluffy fibers; for applying powder to the skin
- thick cushion used as a seat
- a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke)
- forceful exhalation through the nose or mouth
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- Verb:
- smoke and exhale strongly
- suck in or take (air)
- breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
- make proud or conceited
- praise extravagantly
- speak in a blustering or scornful manner
- to swell or cause to enlarge, "Her faced puffed up from the drugs"
- blow hard and loudly
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- Adjective:
- gathered for protruding fullness
Word Origin
- puff (n.)
- c. 1200, perhaps Old English, puf, puffe "short, quick blast; act of puffing," from puff (v.). Meaning "type of light pastry" is recorded from late 14c.; that of "small pad for applying powder to skin or hair" is from 1650s. Figurative sense of "flattery, inflated praise" is first recorded 1732. Derogatory use for "homosexual male" is recorded by 1902.
- puff (v.)
- Old English pyffan "to blow with the mouth," of imitative origin. Meaning "pant, breathe hard and fast" is from late 14c. Used of small swellings and round protuberances since 1530s. Transitive figurative sense of "exalt" is from 1530s; shading by early 18c. into meaning "praise with self-interest." Related: Puffed; puffing.
Example
- 1. At home , planned cuts in welfare will take some of the puff from real incomes .
- 2. Hands trembling I lit my first cigarette in decades wheezing on the first puff .
- 3. And every single morning I will eat a cheese puff from the monk 's bakery by sioni cathedral . Yes , it was that good and only 20p .
- 4. In egypt women barely smoke ( just 0.5 % do so daily ) while female smokers in poland puff through 15.5 cigarettes a day .
- 5. Chinese journalists allege that mr. tuo secretly overhauled a new year 's editorial from the well-known southern weekly newspaper , replacing its call for greater checks on government powers with a propaganda puff piece that ran on thursday .