What does puff mean?

What does puff mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does puff mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] a short light gust of air[v] smoke and exhale strongly(puff a cigar whiff a pipe)[a] gathered for protruding fullness(puff sleeves)[n] a light inflated pastry or puff shell[v] suck in or take (air)(draw a deep breath draw on a cigarette)[n] exaggerated praise (as for promotional purpos

puff

puff - The Free Dictionary

[n] a short light gust of air

[v] smoke and exhale strongly
(puff a cigar whiff a pipe)

[a] gathered for protruding fullness
(puff sleeves)

[n] a light inflated pastry or puff shell

[v] suck in or take (air)
(draw a deep breath draw on a cigarette)

[n] exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes)

[v] breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
(The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily)

[n] bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together

[v] make proud or conceited
(The sudden fame puffed her ego)

[n] a soft spherical object made from fluffy fibers; for applying powder to the skin

[v] praise extravagantly
(The critics puffed up this Broadway production)

[n] thick cushion used as a seat

[v] speak in a blustering or scornful manner
(A puffing kind of man)

[n] 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)

[v] to swell or cause to enlarge,
(Her faced puffed up from the drugs puffed out chests)

[n] forceful exhalation through the nose or mouth
(he gave his nose a loud blow he blew out all the candles with a single puff)

[v] blow hard and loudly
(he huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain)

Other vocabulary

p, p-n junction, p-n-p transistor, p-type semiconductor, p. g. wodehouse, p. p. von mauser, p. t. barnum, p.a., p.a. system, p.e., p.m., p.o., p/e ratio, pa, pa system, pa'anga, paba, pabir, pablo casals, pablo neruda, pablo picasso, pablum, pabulum, pac, pac-man strategy, paca, pace, pace car, pace lap, pacemaker, u, u-boat, u-drive, u-shaped, u-turn, u. s. air force, u. s. army, u. s. army special forces, u. s. coast guard, u. s. code, u.k., u.s., u.s. army criminal investigation laboratory, u.s. congress, u.s. constitution, u.s. government, u.s. house, u.s. house of representatives, u.s. mint, u.s. national library of medicine, u.s. senate, u.s. waters, u.s.a., u308, uakari, ubermensch, ubiety, ubiquinone, ubiquitous, ubiquitousness

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.