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Meaning of puff in English
Pronunciation
/pəf/
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Verb
puff
Definitions
1.
smoke and exhale strongly
Examples
« puff a cigar »
« whiff a pipe »
2.
suck in or take (air)
Examples
« draw a deep breath »
« draw on a cigarette »
3.
breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
Examples
« The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily »
4.
make proud or conceited
Examples
« The sudden fame puffed her ego »
5.
praise extravagantly
Examples
« The critics puffed up this Broadway production »
6.
speak in a blustering or scornful manner
Examples
« A puffing kind of man »
7.
to swell or cause to enlarge, "Her faced puffed up from the drugs"
8.
blow hard and loudly
Examples
« he huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain »
Classifying Adjective
puff
Definitions
1.
gathered for protruding fullness
Examples
« puff sleeves »
Synonyms
fancy
Noun
puff
Etymology
Middle English: imitative of the sound of a breath, perhaps from Old Englishpyf (noun), pyffan (verb)
Definitions
1.
a short light gust of air
2.
a light inflated pastry or puff shell
3.
exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes)
4.
bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together
5.
a soft spherical object made from fluffy fibers
Examples
« for applying powder to the skin »
6.
thick cushion used as a seat
7.
a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke)
Examples
« he took a puff on his pipe »
« he took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly »
8.
forceful exhalation through the nose or mouth
Examples
« he gave his nose a loud blow »
« he blew out all the candles with a single puff »