Definition of "puff"

to every puff of wind a slave

1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs

"The wind we had was only an early puff! You'll see we shall have our full allowance!"

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 184

When I went to bed that night I found that I could not get to sleep. At five o'clock I got up and took a hot bath. I climbed back into bed and lighted one of the Chinese-made "Great Wall" cigars my hosts had thoughtfully provided, and sat puffing on the cigar and making notes about the events of the momentous week.

1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969-1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon‎, Grosset & Dunlap, page 572

[…] though I care not one straw for the personal puffs of which I myself am so often the subject […]

1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major

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

1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246

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

1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English‎, London: Edward Blount, page 47

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?

1842, “A Paper on Puffing”, in Ainsworth's 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.

1848, Mrs. White, “Puffs and Puffing”, in Sharpe's London Magazine

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

2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii

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

1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

Still on the down line, the engine puffed away to the South, and in a few moments had disappeared in the darkness!

1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53

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

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]

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.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927,

It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727

'tis easy for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge , and be puff'd up by it

1690, Robert Boyle, The Christian Virtuoso

Then came brave Glory puffing by.

1633, George Herbert, The Quip

The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

I puff the prostitute away.

1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace

the sea puffed up with winds

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

puffed up with military success

1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English

puffed with wonderful skill

1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871