Word.ws English Dictionary

puffbacks

puffbacks is the plural of puffback.

Meaning of puffback

Noun

puffback (plural puffbacks)

  1. Any bird of the genus Dryoscopus.
  2. The (unintended) emission of soot or smoke from a furnace or boiler into a structure, typically caused by a burner failing to ignite properly, allowing a buildup of fumes which explode and expel soot or smoke into the structure.
    • Puffback can also be caused by a faulty pressure regulator that allows oil to drip into the combustion chamber after the burner shuts down. The leaking oil gets absorbed by the lining of the combustion chamber, and it can also pool[…]1999, Frank C. Montagna, Responding to Routine Emergencies, PennWell Books, →ISBN, page 50

Questions about puffbacks

What is puffbacks the plural of?
Puffbacks is the plural of puffback.

Words near puffbacks in the dictionary

  1. puffadders
  2. puffas
  3. puffback
  4. puffback flycatcher
  5. puffback flycatchers
  6. puffbacks
  7. puffball
  8. puffball skirt
  9. puffball skirts
  10. puffballs
  11. puffbird

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: puffbacks (page history and authors); puffback (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “puffbacks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/puffbacks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.