Puff

Pronunciation: pŭft

A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff.

Anything light and filled with air. Specifically: (a) A puffball. (b) kind of light pastry. (c) A utensil of the toilet for dusting the skin or hair with powder.

An exaggerated or empty expression of praise, especially one in a public journal.

Puff adder
a -	(Zool.) Any South African viper belonging to Clotho and allied genera. They are exceedingly venomous, and have the power of greatly distending their bodies when irritated. The common puff adder (Vipera arietans, or Clotho arietans) is the largest species, becoming over four feet long. The plumed puff adder (Clotho cornuta) has a plumelike appendage over each eye.
b -	A North American harmless snake (Heterodon platyrrhinos) which has the power of puffing up its body. Called also hog-nose snake, flathead, spreading adder, and blowing adder.

Puff bird
b -	(Zool.) any bird of the genus Bucco, or family Bucconidæ. They are small birds, usually with dull-colored and loose plumage, and have twelve tail feathers. See Barbet (b).

v. i.

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

[imp. & p. p. Puffed (pŭft); p. pr. & vb. n. Puffing.]

To blow, as an expression of scorn; - with at.

It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

- South.

To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion.

The ass comes back again, puffing and blowing, from the chase.

- L' Estrange.

To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.

Then came brave Glory puffing by.

- Herbert.

v. t.

To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

- Dryden.

To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.

I puff the prostitute away.

- Dryden.

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.

- Shak.

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

Puffed up with military success.

- Jowett (Thucyd.

To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.

Puffed up; vain.

Noun	1.	puff - a short light gust of air Synonyms: puff of air, whiff
	2.	puff - a light inflated pastry or puff shell
	3.	puff - exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes)
	4.	puff - bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together Synonyms: quilt, comforter
	5.	puff - a soft spherical object made from fluffy fibers; for applying powder to the skin Synonyms: powderpuff
	6.	puff - thick cushion used as a seat Synonyms: hassock, pouffe, pouf, ottoman
	7.	puff - a slow inhalation (as of tobacco smoke); "he took a puff on his pipe"; "he took a drag on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly" Synonyms: drag, pull
	8.	puff - forceful exhalation through the nose or mouth; "he gave his nose a loud blow"; "he blew out all the candles with a single puff" Synonyms: blow
Verb	1.	puff - smoke and exhale strongly; "puff a cigar"; "whiff a pipe" Synonyms: whiff
	2.	puff - suck in or take (air); "draw a deep breath"; "draw on a cigarette" Synonyms: drag, draw
	3.	puff - breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted; "The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily" Synonyms: gasp, pant, heave
	4.	puff - make proud or conceited; "The sudden fame puffed her ego"
	5.	puff - praise extravagantly; "The critics puffed up this Broadway production" Synonyms: puff up
	6.	puff - speak in a blustering or scornful manner; "A puffing kind of man"
	7.	puff - to swell or cause to enlarge, "Her faced puffed up from the drugs" Synonyms: puff out, puff up, blow up
	8.	puff - blow hard and loudly; "he huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain" Synonyms: chuff, huff
Adj.	1.	puff - gathered for protruding fullness; "puff sleeves" Synonyms: puffed

(algorithm)

puff - To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman coding. At least one widely distributed Huffman decoder program was actually *named* "PUFF", but these days it is usually packaged with the encoder.

Opposite: huff.

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