different between fume vs whiff

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French fum (“smoke, steam, vapour”), from Latin f?mus (“vapour, smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?uh?mós (“smoke”), from *d?ewh?- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Doublet of thymus and thymos. More at dun, dusk, dust.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fju?m/
• Rhymes: -u?m

Noun

fume (plural fumes)

1. A gas or vapour/vapor that is strong-smelling or dangerous to inhale.
   • 1753, Thomas Warton, Ode

     the fumes of new-shorn hay

2. A material that has been vaporized from the solid or liquid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.

3. Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.

   • The Fumes of his Passion do as really intoxicate and confound his judging and discerning Faculty , as the Fumes of Drink discompose and stupify the Brain of a Man over - charged with it.

4. Anything unsubstantial or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     a show of fumes and fancies

5. The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
   • 1638, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy

     to smother him with fumes and eulogies

6. (obsolete) A passionate person.

Usage notes

• In the sense of strong-smelling or dangerous vapor, the noun is typically plural, as in the example.

Translations

Verb

fume (third-person singular simple present fumes, present participle fuming, simple past and past participle fumed)

1. (transitive) To expose (something) to fumes; specifically, to expose wood, etc., to ammonia in order to produce dark tints.
2. (transitive) To apply or offer incense to.
3. (intransitive) To emit fumes.
4. (intransitive) To pass off in fumes or vapours.

   • whose parts are kept from fuming away, not only by their fixity […]

5. (intransitive, figuratively) To express or feel great anger.

   • He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground.
6. (intransitive, figuratively) To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.

Translations

Asturian

Verb

fume

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of fumar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of fumar

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fym/

Verb

fume

1. first-person singular present indicative of fumer
2. third-person singular present indicative of fumer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of fumer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of fumer
5. second-person singular imperative of fumer

Anagrams

• meuf

Galician

Alternative forms

• fumo

Etymology

Attested since circa 1300. From Old Galician and Old Portuguese fumo (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin f?mus. Cognate with Portuguese fumo and Spanish humo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fume?/

Noun

fume m (plural fumes)

1. smoke
   • c1300, R. Martínez López (ed.), General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV. Oviedo: Publicacións de Archivum, page 209:

     coyda que o bafo et fume daquel fogo que ensuzou et [empoçoou] as agoas et aterra daly

     he thinks that the fumes and the smoke of that fire defiled and poisoned the waters and the soil there

   • 1348, J. Méndez Pérez & al. (eds.), El monasterio de San Salvador de Chantada, Santiago de Compostela: I. Padre Sarmiento, page 326:

     a vida deste mundo he asy como a sonbra, et quando ome se deleyta en ella he asy como o fumo que se vay logo

     the life in this world is like the shadow, and when a man delight in it is like the 'smoke, which soon goes away

2. fume

   Synonyms: bafo, vapor

3. (figuratively, in the plural) haughtiness

Related terms

• afumar
• fumar
• fumegar
• fumeiro
• fumador
• fumaxe

Verb

fume

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of fumar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of fumar

References

• “fume” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “fume” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “fume” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “fume” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “fume” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Latin

Noun

f?me

1. vocative singular of f?mus

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French fum, from Latin f?mus, from Proto-Indo-European *d?uh?mós.

Alternative forms

• fwme, feum, fewme

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiu?m/

Noun

fume (plural fumes)

1. Visible gaseous emanations; fumes or smoke.
2. Any sort of vapour or gaseous emanation.
3. (physiology) Fumes as the supposed cause of feelings.
4. (rare) An airborne scent or odour.

Related terms

• fumen
• fumerelle
• fumosite
• fumous
• fumygacioun
• fumyter

Descendants

• English: fume
• Scots: fume

References

• “f?me, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-03.

Etymology 2

From Old French fumer.

Verb

fume

1. Alternative form of fumen

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

fume (present tense fumar, past tense fuma, past participle fuma, passive infinitive fumast, present participle fumande, imperative fum)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by fomme

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?fu.mi/

Verb

fume

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of fumar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of fumar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of fumar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of fumar

Spanish

Verb

fume

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of fumar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of fumar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of fumar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of fumar.

Tarantino

Noun

fume

1. smoke

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /w?f/

• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

whiff (plural whiffs)

1. A waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air
2. An odour carried briefly through the air
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2

     A whiff of rotten eggs had vanquished the pale clouded yellows which came pelting across the orchard and up Dods Hill and away on to the moor […]

3. A short inhalation or exhalation of breath, especially of smoke from a cigarette or pipe.
4. (figuratively) A slight sign of something; a glimpse.
   • 2012, Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton [1]

     This was a rare whiff of the big-time for a club whose staple diet became top-flight football for so long—the glamour was in short supply, however. Thousands of empty seats and the driving Yorkshire rain saw to that.

   • 2012, Frank Underwood, House of Cards

     I can tell you first-hand that we are dealing with a regime that is not being forthright and will seize upon the faintest whiff of trepidation. This is a test to see how far they can push us before we breake.

5. (baseball) A strike (from the batter’s perspective)
6. (golf) An attempted shot that completely misses the ball.
7. The megrim, a fish: Lepidorhombus boscii or Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis.

Derived terms

• anglefin whiff
• horned whiff
• sand whiff
• Veracruz whiff
• whiffy

Synonyms

• (a movement of air): puff, waft
• (a brief odour): sniff

Translations

Verb

whiff (third-person singular simple present whiffs, present participle whiffing, simple past and past participle whiffed)

1. (transitive) To waft; to throw out in whiffs.
   • 1918, Charles Wellington Furlong, "Climbing the Shoulders of Atlas", in Harper's Monthly Magazine, page 433:

     […] to face the same bitter, westerly wind which searched our marrow as it tore over the world. It whiffed by us steam and sulphurous vapors from the caldron […]

2. To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
   • 1620, Ben Jonson, News from the New World Discovered in the Moon

     Old Empedocles, […] who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whift him up into the moon.

3. (colloquial) To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
4. (transitive) To sniff.
   • 1891, "A Grain of Gold", in The Arena, page 631:

     [He], going farther away, whiffed at the pleasant odor of the grape blooms, waved his hand to the roses, in farewell, perhaps, lifted his face […]

5. To consume in whiffs; to puff.
   • 1914, Eva Emery Dye, The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark, page 90:

     There was silence as they whiffed at the council pipes. Then a tall chief arose and glanced at the handful of whites and at his own three hundred along the walls of the council house.

6. To miss:
   1. (intransitive, baseball) To strike out.
   2. (golf) To miss the ball completely.
   3. (slang) To attempt to strike and miss, especially being off-balance/vulnerable after missing.
7. (slang) To fail spectacularly at a task.
8. (slang, dated, transitive) To kill; to assassinate.
   • 1944, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep (screenplay)

     The trouble is he wasn't alone when you whiffed him.

Translations

Adjective

whiff (comparative more whiff, superlative most whiff)

1. (colloquial) Having a strong or unpleasant odor.
   • 2002: Jim Rozen, Way oil in rec.crafts.metalworking

     Whoo boy that gear oil is pretty whiff. If you actually do this, spend the extra money for the synthetic gear oil as it will not have as bad a sulfur stink as the regular stuff.

Translations

Derived terms

• whiffle

Etymology 2

Related to whip.

Verb

whiff (third-person singular simple present whiffs, present participle whiffing, simple past and past participle whiffed)

1. To fish with a handline.