Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that puffs.
  • noun A quilted, fitted jacket filled with down or other material for warmth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who puffs; one who praises with exaggerated and interested commendation.
  • noun One who attends a sale by auction for the purpose of raising the price and exciting the eagerness of bidders to the advantage of the seller. Also called bonnet and whitebonnet.
  • noun A fish that swells or puffs up; specifically, any member of either of the plectognath families Tetrodontidæ and Diodontidæ, all of whose species, some eighty in number, have the habit of inflating themselves with air which they swallow; a swell-fish or globe-fish; a blower.
  • noun A porpoise or puffing-pig.
  • noun In weaving, a vat in which linen and cotton cloth is cleansed by boiling; a bucking-keir.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who puffs; one who praises with noisy or extravagant commendation.
  • noun One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at suction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
  • noun Any plectognath fish which inflates its body, as the species of Tetrodon and Diodon of the family Tetraodontidae; -- called also blower, puff-fish, swellfish, and globefish. They are highly poisonous due to the presence of glands containing a potent toxin, tetrodotoxin. Nevertheless they are eaten as a delicacy in Japan, being prepared by specially licensed chefs who remove the poison glands.
  • noun The common, or harbor, porpoise.
  • noun (Dyeing) A kier.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone or something that puffs.
  • noun Any of several poisonous fish, of the family Tetraodontidae, which have the ability to puff themselves up when in danger.
  • noun slang A car left idling to warm up, emitting steam from the rear.
  • noun cellular automata A finite pattern that moves like a spaceship but leaves a trail of debris.
  • noun A manually-operated inhaler.
  • noun childish A train; a locomotive.
  • noun dated, slang One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
  • noun The common, or harbour, porpoise.
  • noun A kier used in dyeing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of numerous marine fishes whose elongated spiny body can inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several species contain a potent nerve poison; closely related to spiny puffers
  • noun delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison in ovaries and liver

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Now that poison is a muscle paralyzer normally found in Japanese puffer fish.

    CNN Transcript Jul 1, 2008 2008

  • Now, the poison, tetrodotoxin, is a muscle paralyzer, normally found in Japanese puffer fish.

    CNN Transcript Jul 1, 2008 2008

  • Incredibly, although he has played for big-name teams including Manchester United, Real Madrid and England, the 34-year-old has never before been seen using a 'puffer' - despite living with asthma since he was a child.

    Hellomagazine.com - Home updates 2009

  • So-called puffer machines that pick up traces of explosives, but they've been hard to maintain in dirty airport environments and they are, in fact, being used less and less.

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2009 2009

  • And as for the more advanced technology, there are so-called puffer machines that pick up traces of explosives, but they've been really hard to maintain in dirty airport environments, and they're being used less and less.

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2009 2009

  • The so-called puffer machines, they're the ones where you stood.

    CNN Transcript Dec 30, 2009 2009

  • The government is scrapping those so-called puffer machines, you know, the ones that blast you with several quick spurts of air to detect explosive residue at airports.

    CNN Transcript May 22, 2009 2009

  • TSA bought a bunch of so-called puffer machines to detect explosives by blowing air on passengers, but they didn't work very well.

    CNN Transcript Dec 31, 2009 2009

  • TSA bought a bunch of so - called puffer machines to detect explosives by blowing air on passengers, but they didn't work very well.

    CNN Transcript Dec 30, 2009 2009

  • TSA bought a bunch of so-called puffer machines to detect explosives by blowing air on passengers, but they didn't work very well.

    CNN Transcript Dec 30, 2009 2009

Comments

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  • (n): a type of fried fritter made with a batter whose base is flaked oats and flavored with cinnamon.

    January 7, 2009

  • "A finite pattern that moves like a spaceship but leaves a trail of debris."

    -- Wiktionary

    July 16, 2015

  • Spotted as a puffy jacket

    December 1, 2017