Word.ws English Dictionary

puff

UK/pʌf/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/pɐf/

puff noun: a sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.

Noun

puff (countable and uncountable, plural puffs)

  1. (countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
  2. (slang, uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.
    • out of puff
    Synonyms:
    wind
  3. (countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.
    • puff of smoke
  4. (countable) A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
    • to every puff of wind a slave1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs
    • "The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184
  5. (countable, informal) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.
    • When I went to bed that night I found that I could not get to sleep. At five o'clock I got up and took a hot bath. I climbed back into bed and lighted one of the Chinese-made "Great Wall" cigars my hosts had thoughtfully provided, and sat puffing on the cigar and making notes about the events of...1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 572
    Synonyms:
    drag
  6. (slang, uncountable) The drug cannabis.
  7. (countable) A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
    • […] though I care not one straw for the personal puffs of which I myself am so often the subject […]1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major
    • […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246
  8. A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.
    • a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder
  9. (countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.
    • cream puff
    Synonyms:
    pastry, cream puff
  10. A puffball.
    • Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, page 47
  11. A powder puff.
  12. (dated, slang) A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price.
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  1. (dated, slang) A scam of that kind.
    • Is nothing to be said in praise of the "Emporiums" and "Repositories" and "Divans," which formerly were mere insignificant tailors', toymen's, and tobacconists' shops? Is the transition from the barber's pole to the revolving bust of the perruquier, nothing? — the leap from the bare...1842, “A Paper on Puffing”, in Ainsworth's Magazine
    • Here the duke is made the vehicle of the tailor's advertisement, and the prelusive compliments, ostensibly meant for his grace, merge into a covert recommendation of the coat. Several specimens might be given of this species of puff, which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite...1848, Mrs. White, “Puffs and Puffing”, in Sharpe's London Magazine
  2. A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
  3. (UK, dated, slang) Life.
    • Isn't this the chance of a lifetime? Have either of you ever made a couple of quids at once in your puff before—pinching goods from the back of delivery vans and smooching lead off empty houses?1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
    • Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters
  4. (Northern England, derogatory, slang) Synonym of poof: a gay man; especially one who is effeminate.
    Synonyms:
    poof

Verb

puff (third-person singular simple present puffs, present participle puffing, simple past and past participle puffed)

  1. (intransitive) To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
    • Still on the down line, the engine puffed away to the South, and in a few moments had disappeared in the darkness!1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53
  2. (intransitive) To pant.
    • By and by comes the ass back again, Puffing and Blowing, from the Chase.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
    • Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor...
  3. (archaic, transitive) To advertise.
  4. To blow as an expression of scorn.
    • It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
  5. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.
    • 'tis easy for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge , and be puff'd up by it1690, Robert Boyle, The Christian Virtuoso
  6. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
    • Then came brave Glory puffing by.1633, George Herbert, The Quip
  7. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.
    • The clearing north will puff the clouds away.1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  8. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
    • I puff the prostitute away.1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace
  9. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.
    • a bladder puffed with air
    • the sea puffed up with windsc. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  10. To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.
    • puffed up with military success1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English
  11. To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
    • puffed with wonderful skill1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green...

puff meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

puff in Hindi

sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth
फूंक phūṅk, दम dam, कश kaś, फूँक phū̃k
ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself
फूंक phūṅk, दम dam, कश kaś
to emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs
फूँकना phū̃knā

puff in Tamil

பஃப்

puff in Marathi

पफ

puff in Urdu

informal: act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe
کش
More languagesFewer languages
puff in Bengali
দম dom
puff in Telugu
పఫ్, పుఫ్
puff in Malayalam
ആകസ്മിക നിശ്വാസം, അല്പമായ കാറ്റ്, ഊതിപ്പറപ്പിക്കുക
puff in Kannada
ಏದು, ತುಂಬಾ ಹೊಗಳು, ಹೊಗೆಬಿಡು
puff in Punjabi
ਪਫ, ਪਫ਼, ਪੱਫ
puff in Gujarati
પફ, પફ્ફ
puff in Odia
ପଫ୍, ପଫ
puff in Assamese
ফুলোৱা phulüa
puff in Nepali
पफ, पफ्फ, पफ गर्न
puff in Tagalog
hithit
puff in Indonesian
kepulan
puff in Persian
فوت fut, پف pof, پک pok

Examples of puff in a sentence

  • Are they not, one and all, practical puffs, intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?1842, “A Paper on Puffing”, in Ainsworth's Magazine:
  • Several specimens might be given of this species of puff, which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite form with booksellers, professional men, &c.1848, Mrs. White, “Puffs and Puffing”, in Sharpe's London Magazine:
  • He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii:

All 40 example sentences with puff

Synonyms of puff

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of puff

Forms of puff

Noun
pluralpuffs
Verb
third-person singular presentpuffs
present participlepuffing
past participlepuffed
pastpuffed

Past tense of puff: puffed

Plural of puff: puffs

Origin of puff

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”).

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). Compare Dutch puffen, German Low German puffen, German puffen, Danish puffe, Swedish puffa.

Words formed from puff

Phrases with puff

Words that rhyme with puff

27 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about puff

What does puff mean?
Puff means a sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
What is puff in Hindi?
Puff in Hindi is फूंक (phūṅk), दम (dam), कश (kaś). See Puff meaning in Hindi.
How do you use puff in a sentence?
Are they not, one and all, practical puffs, intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?
What part of speech is puff?
Puff can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce puff?
Puff is pronounced /pʌf/ (UK).
What is the plural of puff?
The plural of puff is puffs.

Words near puff in the dictionary

  1. Pufahls
  2. PUFAs
  3. Pufendorfian
  4. Pufendorfians
  5. Pufești
  6. puff
  7. puff adder
  8. puff adders
  9. puff and darts
  10. puff one's chest
  11. puff out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: puff (page history and authors); puff (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); puff (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); দম (Bengali) (page history and authors); puff (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); puff (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); puff (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); puff (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); puff (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); puff (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); puff (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-puff.ogg.

Cite this entry: “puff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/puff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.