Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive & transitive verb To wave or flutter or to cause to do so.
- noun A waving or fluttering motion.
- noun A gust of air; a waft.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of waving.
- noun A hasty motion.
- noun A slight stroke from any soft body.
- noun A sudden or slight ailment: as, a waff o' cauld.
- noun A spirit or ghost.
- Worthless; low-born; inferior; paltry.
- To bark.
- An obsolete form of
wave .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Boris on the Olympics, ping-pong versus whiff-waff and the differing attitudes to dining tables in England and France.
Archive 2008-08-01 Not a sheep 2008
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When he visited the 2008 Olympics in Beijing he gave a memorable speech explaining how the British invented ping pong, or "wiff waff" as he informed his audience it was once called.
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I had to admit that I was overawed by the woman, a jellyfish and a wimp in her presence, allowing her to dismiss my waff lings with a wave of her hand.
Every living thing Herriot, James 1992
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Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.
The Moment Of The Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984
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Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.
The Moment Of The Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984
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Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.
The Moment of the Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984
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Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.
The Moment of the Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984
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He went bye with a waff of wind in his plaiding, and his haunch-man as he passed at a discreet distance got the double share of jibe and glunch from the mariners.
John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro
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"You are very much afraid of a waff of wind blowing on your cousin's name," I would cry.
John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro
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But I will tell ye what ye may hear when we get down the hill by the joiner's shop -- and that's the clink o 'the saddle irons, and the waff o' their horses 'lugs as they shake their necks -- them no liking their heads tied up in bags.'
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