the.com/puff
the smallest unit of attitude, equally at home in pastry, smoke, and pride.
means A short, soft burst of air, breath, smoke, or steam — or, by extension, something light and inflated, whether a pastry, a bit of swollen praise, or a small expulsion of effort.
from From Old English 'pyff,' an imitative word — its very sound mimics the breath it names, the lips pursing to push out air. This makes it onomatopoeic, born from the act it describes, with cousins across the Germanic languages doing the same trick (German 'puffen,' to blow or pop). The sense of 'inflated, exaggerated praise' grew naturally: just as a puff of air swells a thing up, so flattery puffs up reputation and pride.
- royal breath
- powder puffs once dusted faces in 17th-century courts
- chemistry
- steam expanding traps air, making pastry puff
- old slang
- puff once meant exaggerated praise or hype
- magic dragon
- Puff lived by the sea in Honah Lee
- blowfish move
- pufferfish inflate by gulping water as defense
puff daddy — sean combs, hip-hop mogul and music producer since 1993
puff pastry — french laminated dough used in thousands of bakeries worldwide
magic dragon puff — peter, paul and mary's 1963 song about puff the magic dragon