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Definition of whiff


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whiff  audio  (hwf, wf) KEY  

NOUN:
  1. A slight, gentle gust of air; a waft: a whiff of cool air.
    1. A brief, passing odor carried in the air: a whiff of perfume.
    2. A minute trace: "Humanity is unregenerable and hates the language of conformity, since conformity has a whiff of the inhuman about it" (Anthony Burgess).
  2. An inhalation, as of air or smoke: Take a whiff of this pipe.
  3. Baseball A strikeout.
VERB:
whiffed , whiff·ing , whiffs
VERB:
intr.
  1. To be carried in brief gusts; waft: puffs of smoke whiffing from the chimney.
  2. Sports To swing at and miss a ball or puck.
  3. Baseball To strike out. Used of a batter.
VERB:
tr.
  1. To blow or convey in whiffs.
  2. To inhale through the nose; sniff: a dog whiffing the air.
  3. Baseball To strike out (a batter).

ETYMOLOGY:
Perhaps alteration of Middle English weffe, offensive smell

OTHER FORMS:
whiffer (Noun)


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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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