PUFFING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does puffing mean? 

• PUFFING (noun)
  The noun PUFFING has 2 senses:

1. blowing tobacco smoke out into the air

2. an act of forcible exhalation

  Familiarity information: PUFFING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUFFING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Blowing tobacco smoke out into the air

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

they smoked up the room with their ceaseless puffing

Hypernyms ("puffing" is a kind of...):

smoke; smoking (the act of smoking tobacco or other substances)

Derivation:

puff (smoke and exhale strongly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An act of forcible exhalation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

huffing; puffing; snorting

Hypernyms ("puffing" is a kind of...):

breathing out; exhalation; expiration (the act of expelling air from the lungs)

Derivation:

puff (breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted)

puff (blow hard and loudly)

 Context examples 

I'll put my hand in no man's hand, said Mr. Micawber, gasping, puffing, and sobbing, to that degree that he was like a man fighting with cold water, until I have—blown to fragments—the—a—detestable—serpent—HEEP!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He runs after us, a puffing, red-faced, irascible figure.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said: (...)

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The wind was now dead astern, muttering and puffing stronger and stronger, and my head-sails were pounding lustily.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Then we carried him into the other room, where he lay with a clay-coloured face, puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath—a dreadful wreck of all that he had been but five minutes before.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Wilson’s hands, which moved incessantly in and out, had been stained with some astringent juice with the purpose of preventing them from puffing, and so great was the contrast between them and his white forearms, that I imagined that he was wearing dark, close-fitting gloves until my uncle explained the matter in a whisper.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I heard a heavy puffing and blowing coming towards us, and soon Mr. Omer, shorter-winded than of yore, but not much older-looking, stood before me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“You were always a noble woman, Anna,” said the old man, puffing at his cigarette.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)