Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use puff in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Puff means a sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth. Example: “Joe puffed on his pipe and blew a couple of smoke rings.”

Examples of puff by meaning

nounThe ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

  • out of puff

nounA small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

  • puff of smoke

nounAn act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

  • 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 the momentous week.1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 572

nounA portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.

  • a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder

nounA scam of that kind.

  • 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

nounLife.

  • 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

verbTo 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

verbTo pant.

  • 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....

More sentences with puff

  • Joe puffed on his pipe and blew a couple of smoke rings.From the entry blow
  • He had his cheeks puffed out as if his mouth was full of water.From the entry puffed out
  • They stood outside the door hunching themselves against the rain and puffing on their cigarettes.From the entry hunch
  • Since he was elected school prefect, he’s become really puffed up.From the entry puffed up
  • I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.From the entry blow down
  • The run left him huffing and puffing.From the entry huff
  • Small birds puff up while sleeping to keep warm.From the entry puff up
  • The angry cat hissed and puffed up its fur.From the entry puff up
  • He puffed out a perfect smoke ring.From the entry puff out
  • The engine puffed out white smoke.From the entry puff out
  • The Polish love of cheesecakes, meringues, and cream puff–style desserts is evidenced in every café, every bakery.2025 October 14, Laurel Kratochvila, “Ptysie, Bezy & Serniki: Choux, Meringues & Cheesecakes”, in Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and…. From the entry dreamy
  • Here Harlotry unhives her swarms Of puffed and painted faces, Parading their half-faded charms With meretricious graces.2023, Nomentino, Nuova Italia, page 203. From the entry unhive
  • Did I take five puffs when I usually take two puffs?'"2022 April 20, Ross Buchanan, “Why You Sometimes Feel Sick or Vomit After Smoking Weed”, in VICE, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2026. From the entry post mortem
  • He puffed three perfect rings and passed the bowl to me.2020, B.R. Yeager, “Two”, in Negative Space, Philadelphia: Apocalypse Party, →ISBN. From the entry cherried
  • She pulled it into two pieces, exposing the red anko center and a puff cloud of steam.2020, Shauna Holyoak, Kazu Jones and the Comic Book Criminal, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN. From the entry anko
  • Boule refers to the shape of the traditional French breads—puffed rustic rounds scored by the village baker.2016, Sarah Black, One Dough, Ten Breads: Making Great Bread by Hand, page 62. From the entry French bread
  • Prick the piadine all over with a fork to prevent them from puffing up.2016, Mark Bittman, How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 385…. From the entry piadina
  • They were short of ideas, huffing and puffing their way towards a demoralising defeat.August 16 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Swansea upstage Manchester United in Louis van Gaal’s Premier League bow," guardian.co.uk. From the entry huff and puff
  • JJ served a bass crudo with yam, Birdeye chile, and cumin puff rice.2014 June 26, Amanda Kludt, “Eater Young Guns Class of 2014 Feted in Los Angeles”, in Eater National. From the entry birdeye
  • She shrugged and set down the dope stick she'd been puffing on.2012, Alan Dean Foster, The Moment of the Magician. From the entry dope stick
  • It's called "puffing," when drivers start their car and then leave it unattended while running.2011 December 6, TRI-102.5 Staff, “‘Puffing’ is Illegal in Colorado (Warming Up Your Car Unattended)”, in TRI-102.5. From the entry puffing
  • It took far, far longer than it should have, to bring up two packets of cheesy puffs.2011, Jane Lovering, Star Struck, Choc Lit Limited, published 2011, →ISBN. From the entry cheesy puff
  • There had been puff pieces about Randal on the trideo since he was a child.2011, J. Wesley Bush, Knox's Irregulars, →ISBN, page 78. From the entry trideo
  • That he'd never had a pizza puff did not deter him.2006, Andy Nash, Through the Lens of Social Justice. From the entry pizza puff
  • Sure, he puffed the magic dragon — who didn't? — but no cocaine, no heroin.2006, Richard Greener, The Lacey Confession. From the entry puff the magic dragon
  • Badger puffed coaxingly for a second or two, and then let out a roguish cloud of smoke.2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 5, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN. From the entry coaxingly
  • He looked at Eve, who smiled broadly, two rougelike puffs of excitement on each apple cheekbone.2004, Warren Adler, The War of the Roses, page 20. From the entry rougelike
  • Tolkien’s Middle-earthers steal a moment to relax by puffing on pipes.2001 December 30, Jay Boyar, “Hollywood ends with bang after starting with whimper”, in Orlando Sentinel, page F3, column 1. From the entry Middle-earther
  • So instead of lobbing a cream puff, I kicked up my leg and brought the Ruttlemyer Express.2000, W. P. Kinsella, Baseball Fantastic: Stories. From the entry cream puff
  • Nat was puffing and heaving like a blowie on a jetty.2000, Wendy Jenkins, Gunna Burn, page 152. From the entry blowie
  • He paused, puffed on his cigarette, and struggled with a cough.1996, Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, Scribner. From the entry fag

Meaning of puff

  1. noun A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
  2. noun The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.
  3. noun A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

Full definition of puff

Questions about puff in a sentence

How do you use puff in a sentence?
Puff is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Joe puffed on his pipe and blew a couple of smoke rings.”
What is a short sentence with puff?
“out of puff”
What does puff mean?
Puff means a sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: puff (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use puff in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/puff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.