pouf

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: po͝of, IPA^(key): /pʊf/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /puːf/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊf, -uːf
• Homophones: poof, pouffe (with certain dialects and/or accents)

Etymology 1

From French pouf, pouff, of imitative origin; compare puff.

Alternative forms

• pouffe

Noun

pouf (plural poufs)

1. (historical) A headdress for women popular in 18th century France. [from 18th c.]
2. A high hair style for women consisting of a roll or pad of hair, worn up. [from 19th c.]
   • 2009 February 10, Katie Thomas, “The Poodle Can’t Talk Now; She’s in With Her Stylist”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Hosaka, nearly everyone agrees, is a master of detail, an artist who tends his poodles’ poufs as if they were bonsai trees from his native Japan.

3. (dressmaking) Part of an item of clothing consisting of gathered fabric in a bunch. [from 19th c.]
4. A low cushioned seat with no back; a padded footstool. [from 19th c.]

   Synonym: tumpty

   • 1922, H.D., Asphodel:

     The voice came from the end of the divan but Hermione, seated square before the fire on a low pouffe did not turn to face its suave producer.

   • 1948, John Creasey, The Case Against Paul Raeburn:

     Raeburn's handsome head was resting against the back of his chair; Eve sat on a pouf in front of the fire.

   • 1971 August 26, “Slaughter at the Summer Palace”, in Time:

     Italian Ambassador Amedeo Guillet, who makes it a practice never to eat at midday, lounged on a Moroccan pouf reading The Peter Principle.

5. A short skirt gathered into a rounded puffy shape; a puffball. [from 20th c.]
6. A ball of fabric (such as nylon monofilament netting) used for washing (as an alternative to a flannel, washcloth, sponge, etc.).
7. (dated) A small saddle cushion worn atop the buttocks (as a fashion trend – similar to a bustle).
8. Alternative form of puff
9. Alternative form of poof
   • 1988 August 20, Chris Reed, “The English 'Strip-tique'”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 6, page 16:

     The same sort of blatant hypocrisy manifest in a tabloid paper notorious for its daily combination of a topless female centerfold with articles condemning the "immorality" of "poufs" and "queers."

Synonyms

• (padded footstool): footstool, hassock, ottoman, tumpty
• (homosexual): horse's hoof (rhyming slang), poofta; pooftah; poofter; poof

Derived terms

• pouf paste

Translations

padded footstool

• Bulgarian: табуретка f (taburetka)
• Czech: taburet m
• Dutch: poef (nl) m
• French: pouf (fr)
• Hungarian: puff (hu)
• Italian: puf m
• Polish: puf (pl) m
• Portuguese: pufe m, banco estofado (para pés)
• Turkish: puf (tr)
• Welsh: pwffe m

Verb

pouf (third-person singular simple present poufs, present participle poufing, simple past and past participle poufed)

1. (transitive) To make poufy or bouffant.

   to pouf the hair

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Alternative forms

poof

Interjection

pouf

1. Onomatopoeia indicating a cloud of smoke or wind; caused by a deflating object, or a magical disappearance.

   Pouf, he was gone.

Anagrams

• FOUP

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /puf/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

pouf m (plural poufs)

1. pouffe (thick cushion)
2. a girl of bad conduct

Descendants

• → Norwegian Bokmål: puff
• → Portuguese: pufe
• → Swedish: puff

Interjection

pouf

1. poof (onomatopoeia)

Further reading

• “pouf”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.