Waft vs Whiff - What's the difference?
waft | whiff |
(ergative) To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
* A breeze came in through the open window and wafted her sensuous perfume into my eager nostrils.
* 1922 , (James Joyce), Chapter 13
* 1914 , Hugh G. Evelyn-White’s translation of Hymn to Aphrodite from the .[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D6]
To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
* Dryden
To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
* Shakespeare
A light breeze.
Something (a scent or odor), such as a perfume, that is carried through the air.
* 1908 ,
* 2010 September, "The SLM'' Calendar", , ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 170:
(nautical) A flag, (also called a waif or wheft), used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal.
A waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air
An odour carried briefly through the air
* (rfdate)
* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), Chapter 2
A short inhalation of breath, especially of smoke from a cigarette or pipe
* Longfellow
(figurative) a slight sign of something; a glimpse
* 2012 , Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19632366]
(baseball) A strike (from the batter’s perspective)
The megrim, a fish .
To waft.
To sniff.
(baseball) To strike out.
(slang) to attempt to strike and miss, especially being off-balance/vulnerable after missing.
To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.
To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
* Ben Jonson
(colloquial) Having a strong or unpleasant odor.
* 2002: Jim Rozen, Way oil in
Whiff is a synonym of waft.
As verbs the difference between waft and whiff
is that waft is to (cause to) float easily or gently through the air while whiff is to waft.As nouns the difference between waft and whiff
is that waft is a light breeze while whiff is a waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air.As an adjective whiff is
having a strong or unpleasant odor.waft
English
Verb
(en verb)- Through the open window of the church the fragrant incense was wafted and with it the fragrant names of her who was conceived without stain of original sin…
- There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously.
- And now the shouts waft near the citadel.
- But soft: who wafts us yonder?
Noun
(en noun)- Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously.
- Patrol Magazine says of this Oxford, Miss., band: "Guitars are responsible for every noise in Colour Revolt's mix—not a single note of piano, waft of synthesizer, or evidence of electronic tampering are to be found."
whiff
English
Noun
(en noun)- everyone has always known, widely promiscuous heterosexual men have, as I say, a whiff of the bathhouse about them.
- A whiff of rotten eggs had vanquished the pale clouded yellows which came pelting across the orchard and up Dods Hill and away on to the moor
- The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, / And a scornful laugh laughed he.
- This was a rare whiff of the big-time for a club whose staple diet became top-flight football for so long - the glamour was in short supply, however. Thousands of empty seats and the driving Yorkshire rain saw to that.
Synonyms
* puff * sniff * waftVerb
(en verb)- Old Empedocles, who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whiffed him up into the moon.
Adjective
(en adjective)rec.crafts.metalworking
- Whoo boy that gear oil is pretty whiff . If you actually do this, spend the extra money for the synthetic gear oil as it will not have as bad a sulfur stink as the regular stuff.
