PUFFING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Puffing

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/pˈəfɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Puffing n. A. & n. from Puff, v. i. & t.

Puffing adder. (Zool.) Same as Puff adder (b), under Puff.

Puffing pig (Zool.), the common porpoise.

verb

Puff v. t.

1.

To drive with a puff, or with puffs. "The clearing north will puff the clouds away."

2.

To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously. "I puff the prostitute away."

3.

To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air. "The sea puffed up with winds."

4.

To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, or the like; often with up. "Puffed up with military success."

5.

To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly. " Puffed with wonderful skill."

Puff v. i. (past & past part. puffed; pres. part. puffing)

1.

To blow in puffs, or with short and sudden whiffs.

2.

To blow, as an expression of scorn; with at. "It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation."

3.

To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion. "The ass comes back again, puffing and blowing, from the chase."

4.

To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

5.

To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance. "Then came brave Glory puffing by."

See images of 'Puffing'

Etymology of 'Puffing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Puffing" Quotes from Famous Books

... Will you wait a minute?" she called clearly above the puffing of the engine. "I've something for you here. Soon as I get this train out—" She saw him stop and turn back to the office, and let it go at that for ...

— Good Indian • B. M. Bower

... one of these trips through the country he could not ride on the cars as you do, for there were no railways, with puffing engines and comfortable coaches; neither could he take a carriage drawn by swift and strong horses, for they too were unknown by the Koreans. Even if he had possessed horses and carriage, there were few roads over which they could have been driven. Most of the highways were ...

— Our Little Korean Cousin • H. Lee M. Pike

... cars in long lines, some motionless, some suddenly lurching forward or back, with a grinding and screeching of wheels and a puffing and coughing from engines ahead. Sam taught me how to climb on the cars and how to swing off while they were going. He had learned from watching the brakemen that dangerous backward left-hand swing that lands you stock-still ...

— The Harbor • Ernest Poole

... face seamed with the scars of disease, the brown coat, the black worsted stockings, the gray wig with the scorched foretop, the dirty hands, the nails bitten and pared to the quick. We see the eyes and mouth moving with convulsive twitches; we see the heavy form rolling; we hear it puffing; and then comes the "Why, sir!" and the "What then, sir?" and the "No, sir!" and the "You don't see your way ...

— English Literature - Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World • William J. Long

... watching our exercises. With her eyeglasses to her eyes, the gentle gentlewoman sat silently contemplating our evolutions, and as we brought them to a conclusion, and stood (not like the Graces) puffing and panting round her, unwilling not to say some kindly word of commendation of our effort, she meekly observed, "It's very pretty, very graceful, very"—a pause—"ladylike." She spoke without any malicious intention whatever, dear ...

— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com