/ pʌf; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
puff (at / on sth) to smoke a cigarette, pipe, etc. :
[ v ]
He puffed (away) on his pipe.
[ vn ]
I sat puffing my cigar.
2.
puff (sth) (out) to make smoke or steam blow out in clouds; to blow out in clouds :
[ vn ]
Chimneys were puffing out clouds of smoke.
[ v ]
Steam puffed out.
3.
( informal ) to breathe loudly and quickly, especially after you have been running
SYN gasp :
[ v ]
I was starting to puff a little from the climb.
[also v speech ]
—see also puffed , puffed out
4.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] to move in a particular direction, sending out small clouds of smoke or steam :
The train puffed into the station.
•
IDIOMS
- be puffed up with pride, etc.
- puff and pant
—more at huff verb
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- puff sth out
- puff up | puff sth up
■ noun
1.
[ C ] an act of breathing in sth such as smoke from a cigarette, or drugs :
He had a few puffs at the cigar.
Take two puffs from the inhaler every four hours.
2.
[ C ] a small amount of air, smoke, etc. that is blown from somewhere :
a puff of wind
Puffs of white smoke came from the chimney.
Any chance of success seemed to vanish in a puff of smoke (= to disappear quickly) .
3.
[ C ] a hollow piece of light pastry that is filled with cream, jam, etc.
—see also cream puff
4.
( NAmE also ˈpuff piece ) [ C ] ( informal , usually disapproving ) a piece of writing or speech that praises sb/sth too much
5.
[ U ] ( informal , especially BrE ) breath :
The hill was very steep and I soon ran out of puff .
—see also powder puff
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : imitative of the sound of a breath, perhaps from Old English pyf (noun), pyffan (verb).