waft

English

WOTD – 16 May 2016

Autumn leaves wafting in the breeze

Etymology

From Middle English waften, from Middle Dutch wachten or Middle Low German wachten (“to guard”). The current senses derive from the original sense “be carried by water”. See also waif.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wŏft
  • IPA^(key): /wɑft/
  • IPA^(key): /wɒft/
  • IPA^(key): /wɑːft/
  • IPA^(key): /wæft/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -ɒft

Verb

waft (third-person singular simple present wafts, present participle wafting, simple past and past participle wafted)

1. (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.

   • 1914, Hesiod, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, transl., “To Aphrodite”, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Loeb Classical Library; 57)‎^[1], Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., →OCLC:

     I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. 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.

   • 1922, James Joyce, chapter 13, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, →OCLC:

     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 […]
2. (intransitive) To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: [s.n.], OCLC 497010563, Act III, scene i; republished as “Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy”, in Walter Scott, editor, The Works of John Dryden, now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Walter Scott, Esq., volume V, London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle Street, by James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh, 1808, OCLC 317070632, page 226:

     Unhappy Aureng-Zebe is in disgrace; / And your Morat, proclaimed the successor, / Is called, to awe the city with his power. / Those trumpets his triumphant entry tell, / And now the shouts waft near the citadel.

3. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act II, scene iv, page 89:

     […] but ſoft: who wafts vs yonder.

Translations

to float easily and gently on the air

• Dutch: zweven (nl), fladderen (nl)
• Finnish: leijua (fi), lehahtaa
• German: treiben (de), wehen (de), wallen (de), wabern (de), streichen (de), umwehen (de), tragen (de), getragen werden
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: flotacar (io)
• Russian: дуть (ru) (dutʹ), доноси́ться (ru) (donosítʹsja)
• Spanish: revolotear (es), levitar (es)

to be moved on a buoyant medium

• Finnish: leijua (fi), kellua (fi)
• German: schweben (de), schwimmen (de), treiben (de), dahinsegeln
• Maori: kōrewarewa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: flutuar (pt)
• Spanish: flotar (es), levitar (es)

to give notice to by waving something

• Finnish: vilkuttaa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: signalisieren (de), senden (de), aussenden, fortsenden, winken (de)

Noun

waft (plural wafts)

1. A light breeze.
2. Something (such as an odor or scent like a perfume) that is carried through the air.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, London: Methuen, →ISBN:

     Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously.

   • 2010 September, “The SLM Calendar”, in St. Louis Magazine, volume 16, number 9, St. Louis, Mo.: Hartmann Pub. Co., →ISSN, page 170:

     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. […]"

3. (nautical) A flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal; a waif, a wheft.

Translations

something carried through the air

• German: Hauch (de) m
• Maori: hīrea
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: vaharada