puff

(pŭf)

a. A short forceful exhalation of breath.

b. A short sudden gust of wind.

c. A brief sudden emission of air, vapor, or smoke.

d. A short sibilant sound produced by a puff.

2. An amount of vapor, smoke, or similar material released in a puff.

3. An act of drawing in and expelling the breath, as in smoking tobacco.

4. A swelling or rounded protuberance.

5. Puff pastry.

6. A light soft pad for applying powder or lotion.

7. A gathered, protruding portion of fabric.

8. A light padded bed covering.

a. An approving or flattering recommendation.

b. A piece of writing, as on the jacket of a book, containing often exaggerated praise, used for promotional purposes.

10. Genetics A localized region of swelling in certain chromosomes indicating the active synthesis of RNA.

v. puffed, puff·ing, puffs

v.intr.

1. To blow in puffs.

2. To come forth in puffs: steam puffing from an engine.

3. To breathe forcefully and rapidly: huffed and puffed up the stairs.

4. To emit puffs.

5. To take puffs on smoking material: puffing on a cigar.

6. To swell or seem to swell, as with pride or air. Often used with up: He puffed up and glared at the importuning questioner.

v.tr.

1. To emit or give forth in puffs.

2. To impel with puffs.

3. To smoke (a cigar, for example).

4. To inflate or distend: The wind puffed out the sail.

5. To fill with pride or conceit: The compliment puffed up his ego.

6. To publicize with often exaggerated praise: publishers who puff their new books.

[From Middle English puffen, to puff, from Old English pyffan, perhaps of imitative origin.]

puff′i·ly adv.

puff′i·ness n.

puff′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

puffy

(ˈpʌfɪ)

adj, puffier or puffiest

1. short of breath

2. swollen or bloated: a puffy face.

3. pompous or conceited

4. blowing in gusts

ˈpuffily adv

ˈpuffiness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	puffy - being puffed out; used of hair style or clothing; "a bouffant skirt" bouffant big, large - above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a large city"; "set out for the big city"; "a large sum"; "a big (or large) barn"; "a large family"; "big businesses"; "a big expenditure"; "a large number of newspapers"; "a big group of scientists"; "large areas of the world"
	2.	puffy - abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas; "hungry children with bloated stomachs"; "he had a grossly distended stomach"; "eyes with puffed (or puffy) lids"; "swollen hands"; "tumescent tissue"; "puffy tumid flesh" intumescent, tumescent, tumid, turgid unhealthy - not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind; "unhealthy ulcers"
	3.	puffy - blowing in puffs or short intermittent blasts; "puffy off-shore winds"; "gusty winds " gusty stormy - (especially of weather) affected or characterized by storms or commotion; "a stormy day"; "wide and stormy seas"

puffy

adjective swollen, enlarged, inflated, inflamed, bloated, puffed up, distended Her cheeks were puffy with crying.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

puffy

adjective

Characterized by an exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance:

grandiose, hoity-toity, pompous, pretentious, puffed-up, self-important.

Informal: highfalutin.

Translations

مُنْتَفِخ

nafouklýoteklý

opsvulmet

geschwollen

rebondi bouffi boursouflé

bólginn

gonfio

oppblåst pløset

nadutý

kabarıkşişmiş

肿大的虚胖的

puffy

[ˈpʌfɪ] ADJ (puffier (compar) (puffiest (superl))) [eye etc] → hinchado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

puffy

[ˈpʌfi] adj [face, eyes] → bouffi(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

puffy

adj (+er)

(= swollen) → geschwollen; face, eyes also → verschwollen; (from crying) → verquollen

(= voluminous) cloud → bauschig; puffy sleeve → Puffärmel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

puffy

[ˈpʌfɪ] adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl))) → gonfio/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

puff

(paf) noun

1. a small blast of air, wind etc; a gust. A puff of wind moved the branches.

2. any of various kinds of soft, round, light or hollow objects. a powder puff; (also adjective) puff sleeves.

verb

1. to blow in small blasts. Stop puffing cigarette smoke into my face!; He puffed at his pipe.

2. to breathe quickly, after running etc. He was puffing as he climbed the stairs.

puffed adjective

short of breath; breathing quickly. I'm puffed after running so fast!

ˈpuffy adjective

swollen, especially unhealthily. a puffy face/ankle.

puff pastry

a light, flaky type of pastry.

puff out

to cause to swell or expand. The bird puffed out its feathers; He puffed out his cheeks.

puff up

to swell. Her eye (was all) puffed up after the wasp stung her.

puffy

adj (comp -fier; super -fiest) hinchado

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

First came a stout puffy gentleman with a carpet bag; he wanted to go to the Bishopsgate station; then we were called by a party who wished to be taken to the Regent's Park; and next we were wanted in a side street where a timid, anxious old lady was waiting to be taken to the bank; there we had to stop to take her back again, and just as we had set her down a red-faced gentleman, with a handful of papers, came running up out of breath, and before Jerry could get down he had opened the door, popped himself in, and called out, "Bow Street Police Station, quick!" so off we went with him, and when after another turn or two we came back, there was no other cab on the stand.

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The more I thought of the fight, and recalled the pale young gentleman on his back in various stages of puffy and incrimsoned countenance, the more certain it appeared that something would be done to me.

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"You have only that puffy muslin dress on--how's that?"

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And looking at my Hermann's heavy, puffy, good-natured face, I knew he would not ex ert himself till greatly exasperated, and, therefore, would thrash very hard, and being fat would resent the necessity.

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I am taken home in a sad plight, and I have beef-steaks put to my eyes, and am rubbed with vinegar and brandy, and find a great puffy place bursting out on my upper lip, which swells immoderately.

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He is an exceedingly puffy little old gentleman, with big circular eyes and a huge double chin.

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A man could not help being fierce and daring with a plume in his bonnet, a dagger in his belt, and a lot of puffy white things all down his sleeves.

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One would have thought it impossible for a man to stretch himself more than Timokhin had done when he was reprimanded by the regimental commander, but now that the commander in chief addressed him he drew himself up to such an extent that it seemed he could not have sustained it had the commander in chief continued to look at him, and so Kutuzov, who evidently understood his case and wished him nothing but good, quickly turned away, a scarcely perceptible smile flitting over his scarred and puffy face.

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Noticing the mirror, she stood before it and examined her extraordinary features with amazement--her button eyes, pearl bead teeth and puffy nose.

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He was red-faced, burly and plethoric, with a pair of very small twinkling eyes which looked keenly out from between swollen and puffy pouches.

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A VERY stout, puffy man, in buckskins and Hessian boots, with several immense neckcloths that rose almost to his nose, with a red striped waistcoat and an apple green coat with steel buttons almost as large as crown pieces (it was the morning costume of a dandy or blood of those days) was reading the paper by the fire when the two girls entered, and bounced off his arm-chair, and blushed excessively, and hid his entire face almost in his neckcloths at this apparition.

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Challenger said nothing, but looked pompous and puffy, as if he could if he would, so that finally Lord John asked his opinion direct.

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