puffer

See also: Puffer

English

Etymology

From puff +‎ -er.

The cellular automata definition is a clipping of puffer train.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌfɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌfə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌfə(ɹ)

Noun

puffer (plural puffers)

1. Someone or something that puffs.
2. Any of several poisonous fish, of the family Tetraodontidae, which have the ability to inflate their bodies when in danger.
3. A manually-operated inhaler.
   • 1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 96:

     For years he'd made relatively light of it, referring to the little inhaler he had to use as his ‘puffer’.

4. (dated, childish) A train; a locomotive, usually one that is steam-powered.
5. A Clyde puffer, a kind of small ship.
6. (slang) A car left idling to warm up, emitting steam from the rear.
7. (fashion) An insulated puffy jacket, such as a down jacket.
8. (dated) A person who gives exaggerated praise to a product, literary work, etc.
9. (dated, slang) One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
   • 1834, The Law Library:

     Cicero in his Offices declares his opinion , that a vendor ought not to appoint a puffer to raise the price

10. (derogatory) An alchemist; so named from their constant attendance to the bellows of their furnaces.
11. The common, or harbour, porpoise.
12. A kier used in dyeing.
13. (glassblowing) A soffietta.
14. (cellular automata) A finite pattern that moves like a spaceship but leaves a trail of debris.
    • 1993 March 16, David Bell, “Life program (part 2/18)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎^[1] (Usenet):

      This is the next best thing, which is a pseudo-puffer made by converting a stream of spaceships into puffer output using several c/3 spaceships.

    • 2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎^[2] (Usenet):

      Might be interesting to see if the debris from this puffer can be suppressed somehow -- assuming somebody hasn't already done that, but I don't see any sign of previous attempts.

    • 2015, Paul Rendell, Turing Machine Universality of the Game of Life, page 133:

      The switch engine is unstable but a number of them working in combination can form stable puffers, spaceships and rakes.

15. A security device used to detect traces of explosives or drugs on a person, by blowing puffs of air that pick up tiny particles.

Synonyms

• (fish): globefish, pufferfish

Derived terms

• Clyde puffer
• party puffer
• peter puffer
• pink puffer
• porcupine puffer
• pufferbelly
• puffer coat
• puffer jacket
• Randall's puffer
• threetooth puffer

Translations

someone or something that puffs

• Finnish: tupruttaja, puhisija, pölläyttäjä, puhaltaja (fi), läähättäjä, puffaaja
• Portuguese: soprador m, pitador m

blowfish — see blowfish

References

• 'puffer (slang), The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English: A Crunk Omnibus, by Grant Barrett, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006, p. 273. [3]

Danish

Noun

puffer c (singular definite pufferen, plural indefinite puffere)

1. (chemistry) buffer

Declension

Declension of puffer

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	puffer	pufferen	puffere	pufferene
genitive	puffers	pufferens	pufferes	pufferenes

Synonyms

• buffer

French

Etymology

From puff +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py.fe/

Verb

puffer

1. (transitive) to advertise
2. (intransitive, informal, slang) to inhale vapor from an e-cigarette

Conjugation

Conjugation of puffer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	puffer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	puffant /py.fɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		puffé /py.fe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	puffe /pyf/	puffes /pyf/	puffe /pyf/	puffons /py.fɔ̃/	puffez /py.fe/	puffent /pyf/
	imperfect	puffais /py.fɛ/	puffais /py.fɛ/	puffait /py.fɛ/	puffions /py.fjɔ̃/	puffiez /py.fje/	puffaient /py.fɛ/
	past historic2	puffai /py.fe/	puffas /py.fa/	puffa /py.fa/	puffâmes /py.fam/	puffâtes /py.fat/	puffèrent /py.fɛʁ/
	future	pufferai /py.fʁe/	pufferas /py.fʁa/	puffera /py.fʁa/	pufferons /py.fʁɔ̃/	pufferez /py.fʁe/	pufferont /py.fʁɔ̃/
	conditional	pufferais /py.fʁɛ/	pufferais /py.fʁɛ/	pufferait /py.fʁɛ/	pufferions /py.fə.ʁjɔ̃/	pufferiez /py.fə.ʁje/	pufferaient /py.fʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	puffe /pyf/	puffes /pyf/	puffe /pyf/	puffions /py.fjɔ̃/	puffiez /py.fje/	puffent /pyf/
	imperfect2	puffasse /py.fas/	puffasses /py.fas/	puffât /py.fa/	puffassions /py.fa.sjɔ̃/	puffassiez /py.fa.sje/	puffassent /py.fas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	puffe /pyf/	—	puffons /py.fɔ̃/	puffez /py.fe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

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