Puff vs Swell - What's the difference?

puff | swell |

In intransitive terms the difference between puff and swell

is that puff is to pant while swell is to be raised to arrogance.

As an adjective swell is

excellent.

puff

English

Noun

(countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.

(uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

out of puff

(countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

puff of smoke

* Flatman

to every puff of wind a slave

(informal, countable) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

(countable) A flamboyant or alluring statement about an object's quality.

(dated, slang) A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; an act or scam of that type.

* 1842 , "A Paper on Puffing", in Ainsworth's Magazine

Is nothing to be said in praise of the "Emporiums" and "Repositories" and "Divans," which formerly were mere insignificant tailors', toymen's, and tobacconists' shops? Is the transition from the barber's pole to the revolving bust of the perruquier, nothing? — the leap from the bare counter-traversed shop to the carpeted and mirrored saloon of trade, nothing? Are they not, one and all, practical puffs , intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?

* 1848 , Mrs. White, "Puffs and Puffing", in Sharpe's London Magazine

Here the duke is made the vehicle of the tailor's advertisement, and the prelusive compliments, ostensibly meant for his grace, merge into a covert recommendation of the coat. Several specimens might be given of this species of puff , which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite form with booksellers, professional men, &c.

* 2008 , David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto , page xii

He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff ".

A puffball.

A powder puff.

(uncountable, slang) The drug cannabis.

(countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.

cream puff

(derogatory, slang, British, particularly northern UK) a homosexual; a poof

(slang, dated, UK) life

* 1938 , P. G. Wodehouse (Bertie Wooster speaking of Spode) in The Code of the Woosters

Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?

Synonyms

* (sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth) * (ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself) wind * (small quantity of gas or smoke in the air) * drag * (cannabis) blow, dope, ganja, pot, weed; see also * (type of cake) pastry * (poof) See poof

Derived terms

* powder puff * puff pastry * puffer * puffery * puffing * puff piece

Verb

(en verb)

To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.

To pant.

* L'Estrange

The ass comes back again, puffing and blowing, from the chase.

* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VI

Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing.

(archaic) To advertise.

To blow as an expression of scorn.

* South

It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

(Boyle)

To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.

* Herbert

Then came brave Glory puffing by.

To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

* Dryden

The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.

* Dryden

I puff the prostitute away.

To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.

a bladder puffed with air

* Shakespeare

the sea puffed up with winds

To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up .

* Jowett

puffed up with military success

To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.

* Macaulay

puffed with wonderful skill

Derived terms

* puffed * puff up * puff out

swell

English

Verb

To become bigger, especially due to being engorged.

* Shakespeare

Monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

To cause to become bigger.

Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring.

* Atterbury

It is low ebb with his accuser when such peccadilloes are put to swell the charge.

* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=

, title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.}}

* 2013 June 18, (Simon Romero), " Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):

After a harsh police crackdown last week fueled anger and swelled protests, President Dilma Rousseff, a former guerrilla who was imprisoned under the dictatorship and has now become the target of pointed criticism herself, tried to appease dissenters by embracing their cause on Tuesday.

To grow gradually in force or loudness.

The organ music swelled .

To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate.

to be swelled with pride or haughtiness

To be raised to arrogance.

* Shakespeare

Here he comes, swelling like a turkey cock.

* Sir Walter Scott

You swell at the tartan, as the bull is said to do at scarlet.

To be elated; to rise arrogantly.

* Dryden

Your equal mind yet swells not into state.

To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant.

swelling''' words; a '''swelling style

To protuberate; to bulge out.

A cask swells in the middle.

Noun

(en noun)

The act of swelling.

Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.

* Landor:

the swell and subsidence of his periods

A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased.

* 1883 , , Treasure Island , ch. 24:

There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea.

(music) A gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}

(music) A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ.

(music) A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division.

A hillock or similar raised area of terrain.

* 1909 , , The Last of the Chiefs , ch. 2:

Off on the crest of a swell a moving figure was seen now and then. "Antelope," said the hunters.

(informal) A person who is dressed in a fancy or elegant manner.

* , "The Kickleburys on the Rhine" in The Christmas Books of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh :

It costs him no more to wear all his ornaments about his distinguished person than to leave them at home. If you can be a swell at a cheap rate, why not?

* 1887 , , The Cash Boy , ch. 9:

He was dressed in a flashy style, not unlike what is popularly denominated a swell .

(informal) A person of high social standing; an important person.

* 1864 , , The Small House at Allington , ch. 2:

"I am not in Mr Crosbie's confidence. He is in the General Committee Office, I know; and, I believe, has pretty nearly the management of the whole of it." . . .

"I'll tell you what he is, Bell; Mr Crosbie is a swell'." And Lilian Dale was right; Mr Crosbie was a ' swell .

* 1906 , , The Trespasser , ch. 8:

You buy a lot of Indian or halfbreed loafers with beaver-skins and rum, go to the Mount of the Burning Arrows, and these fellows dance round you and call you one of the lost race, the Mighty Men of the Kimash Hills. And they'll do that while the rum lasts. Meanwhile you get to think yourself a devil of a swell —you and the gods!

Synonyms

* (person dressed in a fancy or elegant manner) dandy, dude, toff * (person of high social standing) toff

Derived terms

* ground swell, groundswell * upswell * wind swell

Adjective

(en-adj)

Excellent.

* 2012 , (Ariel Levy), "The Space In Between", The New Yorker , 10 Sep 2012:

Orgasms are swell , but they are not the remedy to every injustice.

Anagrams

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