whiff

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪf

Noun

whiff (plural whiffs)

1. A waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air
2. An odour carried briefly through the air
   • (Can we date this quote?) Ann Coulter

     everyone has always known, widely promiscuous heterosexual men have, as I say, a whiff of the bathhouse about them.

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2

     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…

3. A short inhalation of breath, especially of smoke from a cigarette or pipe
4. (figuratively) a slight sign of something
   • 2012, Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton [1]

     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.

5. (baseball) A strike (from the batter’s perspective)
6. The megrim, a fish with scientific name Lepidorhombus boscii or Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis

Synonyms

• puff
• sniff
• waft

Translations

waft; brief, gentle breeze; light gust of air

• Bulgarian: полъх (bg) (polŭkh) m, повей (bg) (povej) m
• Dutch: vlaag (nl), vleug (nl),adem (nl)
• Finnish: tuulahdus

• French: souffle (fr) m
• Russian: дуновение (ru) (dunovenije) n
• Spanish: bocanadas (es) f, soplo (es) m, hálito (es) m

odour carried briefly through the air

• Dutch: vleug (nl) c
• Finnish: tuoksahdus
• French: effluve (fr) m

• German: Hauch (de) m
• Russian: запашок (ru) (zapašok) m

short inhalation of breath

• Dutch: teug (nl) c, trek (nl) m
• Finnish: henkäys

• French: bouffée (fr)
• Russian: затяжка (ru) (zatjažka) f

strike

megrim

• Finnish: lasikampela
• French: cardine franche (fr) f

• Russian: мегрим (ru) (megrim)

Verb

whiff (third-person singular simple present whiffs, present participle whiffing, simple past and past participle whiffed)

1. (transitive) To waft.
2. (transitive) To sniff.
3. (intransitive, baseball) To strike out.
4. (slang) to attempt to strike and miss, especially being off-balance/vulnerable after missing.

Translations

waft

• Dutch: geuren (nl)
• Finnish: tuulahtaa

• Russian: дуть (ru) (dutʹ), веять (ru) (vejatʹ)

sniff

• Dutch: snuiven (nl), ruiken (nl)
• Finnish: nuuhkaista (fi)

• Russian: принюхиваться (ru) (prinjuxivatʹsja)

baseball sense — see strike out

attempt to strike and miss

• Finnish: lyödä ohi (fi)

Adjective

whiff (comparative more whiff, superlative most whiff)

1. (colloquial) Having a strong or unpleasant odor.
   • 2002: Jim Rozen, Way oil in 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.

Translations

having a strong or unpleasant odor

• Dutch: geurig (nl), sterk (nl) van geur (nl)

Derived terms

• whiffle