I. puff 1 /pʌf/ BrE AmE verb
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: pyffan , from the sound ]
1 . [intransitive] to breathe quickly and with difficulty after the effort of running, carrying something heavy etc:
George puffed and panted as he tried to keep up.
puff along/up etc
An old man puffed up to them.
He caught up with Gary, puffing for breath.
⇨ huff and puff at ↑ huff 1 (1)
2 . [intransitive and transitive] ( also puff away ) to breathe in and out while smoking a cigarette or ↑ pipe
puff at/on
Kinane sat in silence, puffing thoughtfully at his pipe.
3 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] if smoke, steam etc puffs from somewhere, or if something puffs it, it comes out in little clouds:
Steam puffed out of the chimney.
The boiler was puffing thick black smoke.
Don’t puff smoke into my face.
4 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to move in a particular direction, sending out little clouds of steam or smoke:
The train puffed steadily across the bridge.
puff something ↔ out phrasal verb
puff out your cheeks/chest to make your cheeks or chest bigger by filling them with air:
Henry puffed out his chest proudly.
puff up phrasal verb
1 . to become bigger by increasing the amount of air inside, or to make something bigger in this way:
The pastry will puff up while it bakes.
puff something ↔ up
Birds puff up their feathers to keep warm.
2 . if a part of your body puffs up, it swells painfully because of injury or infection:
My eye had puffed up because of a mosquito bite.
II. puff 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [countable] the action of taking the smoke from a cigarette, ↑ pipe etc into your ↑ lung s
puff on/at
He laughed and took a puff on his cigar.
2 . [countable] a sudden small movement of wind, air, or smoke
puff of smoke/wind/air/steam etc
The dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke.
3 . cheese/jam/cream etc puff a piece of light ↑ pastry with a soft mixture inside
4 . [uncountable] British English informal your breath:
I was out of puff (=had difficulty breathing) .
5 . [countable] ( also puff piece ) a piece of writing or a speech that praises someone too much – used to show disapproval