puff (puf)

[ For not one puffe of winde there did appeare. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 22. The young Cardinal of Guise died, being struck down by the Puff of a Cannon-bullet, which put him in a burning Fever. Howell, Letters, I. iii. 5. At length a puff of northern wind Did blow him to the land. Young Bear well (Child's Ballads, IV. 303). 2. A puffball.-3. An inflated, swollen, light, fluffy, or porous thing or part. (a) In dre making, a strip of some fabric gathered and sewed down on both edges, but left full in the middle. Long Puffes of Yellow and Blewe Sarcenet rising vp betwixt the Panes, besides Codpieces of the like colours. Coryat, Crudities, I. 41, sig. E. and rosettes of satin. The duche wears a fine gauze dre , trimmed with puffs The Century , XXXIX. 265. (b) A light, porous, spongy, or friable cake, generally filled with preserve or the like: as, cream - puffs ; jam- puf . "Tom," said Maggie, as they sat on the boughs of the elder-tree, eating their jam - puffs , "shall you run away tomorrow?" George Eliot , Mill on the Flo , i. 6. 4. An implement consisting of swan's down or a wad of flo y or loose texture, used for applying powder to the hair or skin. See powder paff.-5. Exaggerated or undue praise uttered or written from an interested point of view; especially, a written commendation of a book, an exertion. You are a fellow dares not fight, But spit and puff and make a noise, whilst Your trembling hand draws out your sword. Beau . and Fl ., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. Sir Timothy, who makes love to my friend's eldest daughter, came in amongst us puffing and blowing, as if he had been very much out of breath. Add is on, Sir Timothy Tittle. 4t. To act or move with flurry and a swelling, bustling appearance; a ume importance. Then came brave Glory puffing by In silks that whistled, who but he! G. IHerbert , The Temple. II. trans. 1. To blow; send forth in quick short blasts or whiffs; drive with a blast. Piries and plomtrees were puffed to the erthe, In ensample, ze segges, ze shulden do the bettere. Piers Plowman (B), v. 16. Not three centuries have elapsed since knightly Raleigh puffed its [tobacco's] fumes into the astonished eyes of Spenser and Shakespeare. B. Taylor , Lands of the Saracen, p. 179. A radical in thought, he puffed away With shrewd contempt the dust of usage gray. Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story. 2. To draw smoke through, or send out smoke from. Here the old burgher would sit in perfect silence, puffing his pipe, looking in the fire with half-shut eyes, and thinking of nothing for hours together. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 168. 3. To fill, inflate, or expand with breath or air, and figuratively with pride, vanity, conceit, etc.; swell: frequently with up: as, puffed up with succe ; puffed with ambition. But generally the high stile is disgraced and made foolish and ridiculous by all wordes affected, count erf a it, and puffed vp, as it were a wind ball carrying more countenance then matter. Putten ham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 128. Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds, Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? goods, or the like. My American puffs I would willingly burn all (They're all from one source, monthly, weekly, diurnal) To get but a kick from a transmarine journal! Lowell, Fable for Critics. 6. One who is puffed up; an inflated, conceited person. The other, a strange arrogating puff , Both impudent and ignorant enough. B. Jonson , Cynthia's Revels, iii. 2. A very puff , a weak animal. Shirley , Love Tricks, ii. 2. 7. One who writes puffs.-8. A small ve el with minute openings for scattering liquid perfumes. Rev. George Ormsby, Jour. Brit. Archæol. A ., XXII. 404. puff (puf), interj. [See puff, v.] An exclamation of contempt or impatience. puffin open. See Fungi, Gasteromycetes, and Lycoperdon; see also fist - ball2, foist1, fuzzball, earth puff, Bovista (with cut), blind - Harry, blind man's - buff, deil's snuff - box (under deil ), devil's snuff - box (under devil ), and cut under basidium. Giant puffball, a fungus, Lycoperdon giganteum, which often grows to a large size, having been known to attain a diameter of 5 feet. It is edible when young, and the mature dry spores may be used to stanch slight wounds. puff-bird (puf'bėrd), n. Any fi irostral barbet of the American family Bucconidæ: so called from its habit of puffing up the plumage. See cut in preceding column, also barbet2, Bиссо, and cut under nun - bird. puff-box (puf'boks), n. A box designed to contain toilet-powder and a puff. It is often made an ornamental article for the toilet-table. puffed (puft), a. [ the peculiar stuffed forms puffed and slashed dre es of the time are imitated.