puff

verb

/pʌf/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they puff	/pʌf/ /pʌf/
he / she / it puffs	/pʌfs/ /pʌfs/
past simple puffed	/pʌft/ /pʌft/
past participle puffed	/pʌft/ /pʌft/
-ing form puffing	/ˈpʌfɪŋ/ /ˈpʌfɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

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[intransitive, transitive] to be smoking a cigarette, pipe, etc.
- puff (at/on something) He puffed (away) on his pipe.
- puff something I sat puffing my cigar.
- She puffed furiously at her cigarette.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- furiously
- contentedly
- happily
- …
preposition
- at
- on
See full entry
[transitive, intransitive] to make smoke or steam blow out in clouds; to blow out in clouds
- puff something (out) Chimneys were puffing out clouds of smoke.
- puff (out) Steam puffed out.
[intransitive, transitive] (+ speech) (informal) to breathe loudly and quickly, especially after you have been running synonym gasp
- I was starting to puff a little from the climb.
see also puffed, puffed out
Extra Examples
- Far behind us, puffing and blowing, came Matt.
- He came puffing up the hill.
- She was puffing quite hard by the time she reached the office.
- She puffed and panted behind the others.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- hard
- loudly
preposition
- along
- from
- up
- …
phrases
- huff and puff
- puff and pant
- puffing and blowing
- …
See full entry
[intransitive] + adv./prep. to move in a particular direction, sending out small clouds of smoke or steam
- The train puffed into the station.

Word OriginMiddle English: imitative of the sound of a breath, perhaps from Old English pyf (noun), pyffan (verb).

Idioms

be puffed up with pride, etc.

to be too full of pride, etc.
- He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance.
Topics Personal qualitiesc2

huff and puff (informal)

to breathe in a noisy way because you are very tired
- Jack was huffing and puffing to keep up with her.
to make it obvious that you are annoyed about something without doing anything to change the situation
- After much huffing and puffing, she finally agreed to help.
Topics Feelingsc2
More Like This Rhyming pairs in idioms
Rhyming pairs in idioms
- doom and gloom
- fair and square
- high and dry
- huff and puff
- name and shame
- slice and dice
- thrills and spills
- wear and tear
- wheel and deal
- wine and dine

puff and pant

(also puff and blow informal)

noun

/pʌf/

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[countable] an act of breathing in something such as smoke from a cigarette, or drugs
- He had a few puffs at the cigar.
- Take two puffs from the inhaler every four hours.
- a puff on her cigarette
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- long
- short
verb + puff
- have
- take
preposition
- puff on
See full entry
[countable] a small amount of air, smoke, etc. that is blown from somewhere
- a puff of wind
- She felt a puff of warm air on her face.
- Puffs of white smoke came from the chimney.
- (figurative) Any chance of success seemed to vanish in a puff of smoke (= to disappear quickly).
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- little
- small
- tiny
- …
preposition
- puff of
See full entry
[countable] a hollow piece of light pastry that is filled with cream, jam, etc. see also cream puff
(North American English also puff piece)
[countable] (informal, usually disapproving) a piece of writing or speech that praises somebody/something too much
- The press is full of puffs for his new movie.
- The magazine ran a puff piece on him last week.
[uncountable] (especially British English, informal) breath
- The hill was very steep and I soon ran out of puff.