different between puff vs flurry

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), imitative. Cognate with Middle Low German puf, pof.

Noun

puff (countable and uncountable, plural puffs)

1. (countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
2. (uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

   Synonym: wind

3. (countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

4. (countable) A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
   • 1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs

     to every puff of wind a slave
5. (informal, countable) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

   Synonym: drag

6. (uncountable, slang) The drug cannabis.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

7. (countable) A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
   • 1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties (volume 24, page 246)

     […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.

8. A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.

   a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder

9. (countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.

   Synonyms: pastry, cream puff

10. A puffball.
    • 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, p. 47,^[1]

      Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.

11. A powder puff.
12. (dated, slang) A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; an act or scam of that type.
    • 1842, "A Paper on Puffing", Ainsworth's Magazine

      Is nothing to be said in praise of the "Emporiums" and "Repositories" and "Divans," which formerly were mere insignificant tailors', toymen's, and tobacconists' shops? Is the transition from the barber's pole to the revolving bust of the perruquier, nothing? — the leap from the bare counter-traversed shop to the carpeted and mirrored saloon of trade, nothing? Are they not, one and all, practical puffs, intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?

    • 1848, Mrs. White, "Puffs and Puffing", in Sharpe's London Magazine

      Here the duke is made the vehicle of the tailor's advertisement, and the prelusive compliments, ostensibly meant for his grace, merge into a covert recommendation of the coat. Several specimens might be given of this species of puff, which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite form with booksellers, professional men, &c.

    • 2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii

      He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".

13. (genetics) A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
14. (slang, dated, Britain) Life.
    • 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

      Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?

15. (derogatory, slang, Britain, particularly northern UK) Synonym of poof: a male homosexual, especially an effeminate one.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). Compare Dutch puffen, German Low German puffen, German puffen, Danish puffe, Swedish puffa.

Verb

puff (third-person singular simple present puffs, present participle puffing, simple past and past participle puffed)

1. (intransitive) To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
2. (intransitive) To pant.
   • 1692, Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists

     By and by comes the ass back again, Puffing and Blowing, from the Chase.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI

     Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing.

3. (transitive, archaic) To advertise.
4. To blow as an expression of scorn.

   • It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

5. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Boyle to this entry?)

6. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
   • 1633, George Herbert, The Quip

     Then came brave Glory puffing by.

7. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

   • The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

8. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
   • 1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace

     I puff the prostitute away.

9. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.

   a bladder puffed with air
10. To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.
    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English

      puffed up with military success

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

Derived terms

• outpuff
• puffed
• puff up
• puff out

Translations

Finnish

Interjection

puff

1. poof (deflating object or a magical disappearance)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?puf?]
• Hyphenation: puff
• Rhymes: -uf?

Etymology 1

From German puffen.

Noun

puff (plural puffok)

1. pouf, puff, pouffe (a backless, rounded, cushioned low stool)
2. (dressmaking) pouf (on the upper part of the sleeves)
3. puff, powder puff (a pad of soft material used for the application of cosmetic powder to the face)

Declension

Etymology 2

Back-formation from puffad, puffant, puffaszt.

Interjection

puff

1. bang! pouf! (onomatopoeia representing a sudden sharp noise or crashing sound)

References

Further reading

• (pouf, puff, pouffe): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN
• (bang): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

English

Etymology

Perhaps an American English blend of flutter and hurry. Alternatively, perhaps from an obsolete term flurr (“scatter”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fl??i/ (accents with the "Foot-strut" split)
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fl??i/ (accents without the "Foot-strut" split)
• Rhymes: -?ri
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fl??i/ (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
  • Rhymes: -?ri
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fl?.?i/ (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)

Noun

flurry (plural flurries)

1. A light, brief snowfall.
2. A sudden and brief blast or gust; a light, temporary breeze.

   a flurry of wind

3. A shower of dust, leaves etc. brought on by a sudden gust of wind.
4. (figuratively) Any sudden activity; a stir.
   • 1998, Gillian Catriona Ramchand, Deconstructing the Lexicon, in Miriam Butt and Wilhelm Geuder, eds. “The Projection of Arguments”

     These [argument structure] modifications are important because they have provoked a flurry of investigation into argument structure operations of merger, demotion etc.

5. A snack consisting of soft ice cream mixed with small pieces of fruit, cookie crumbs, etc.
   • 1988, K. Wayne Wride, Fruit Treats (in Vegetarian Times number 134, October 1988, page 27)

     Does your "Forbidden Foods" list include banana splits, ice cream sundaes, slurpies, popsicles, frozen yogurts, milk shakes, and ice cream flurries? These foods taste great but have a reputation for being bad for your health.

   • 2002, Tampa Bay Magazine (volume 17, number 3, May-June 2002, page 235)

     They will make your tongue smile with their homemade ice cream, which was voted "Best Taste in the USA Today." Enjoy exciting toppings to personalize your treat or a yummy sundae, flurry, smoothie, banana split or shake...

6. The violent spasms of a dying whale.
7. An occurrence of something (countable instances) in large numbers, happening suddenly or in a short period of time.

   Synonyms: volley, barrage

Translations

Verb

flurry (third-person singular simple present flurries, present participle flurrying, simple past and past participle flurried)

1. (transitive) To agitate, bewilder, fluster.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 1:

     And so venturing not to say another word, poor Jemima trotted off, exceedingly flurried and nervous.
2. (intransitive) To move or fall in a flurry.

Translations