different between puff vs compact

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), imitative. Cognate with Middle Low German puf, pof.

Noun

puff (countable and uncountable, plural puffs)

1. (countable) A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.
2. (uncountable) The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself.

   Synonym: wind

3. (countable) A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air.

4. (countable) A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc.
   • 1674, Thomas Flatman, Poems and Songs

     to every puff of wind a slave
5. (informal, countable) An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

   Synonym: drag

6. (uncountable, slang) The drug cannabis.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

7. (countable) A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise.
   • 1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties (volume 24, page 246)

     […] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.

8. A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle.

   a sleeve with a puff at the shoulder

9. (countable) A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc.

   Synonyms: pastry, cream puff

10. A puffball.
    • 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: Edward Blount, p. 47,^[1]

      Bozzacchio, an acorne. Also a puffe or mushrump full of dust.

11. A powder puff.
12. (dated, slang) A puffer, one who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; an act or scam of that type.
    • 1842, "A Paper on Puffing", Ainsworth's Magazine

      Is nothing to be said in praise of the "Emporiums" and "Repositories" and "Divans," which formerly were mere insignificant tailors', toymen's, and tobacconists' shops? Is the transition from the barber's pole to the revolving bust of the perruquier, nothing? — the leap from the bare counter-traversed shop to the carpeted and mirrored saloon of trade, nothing? Are they not, one and all, practical puffs, intended to invest commerce with elegance, and to throw a halo round extravagance?

    • 1848, Mrs. White, "Puffs and Puffing", in Sharpe's London Magazine

      Here the duke is made the vehicle of the tailor's advertisement, and the prelusive compliments, ostensibly meant for his grace, merge into a covert recommendation of the coat. Several specimens might be given of this species of puff, which is to be met with in almost every paper, and is a favourite form with booksellers, professional men, &c.

    • 2008, David Paton-Williamspage, Katterfelto, page xii

      He was the eighteenth century king of spin, or, in the language of the day, the "prince of puff".

13. (genetics) A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter.
14. (slang, dated, Britain) Life.
    • 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

      Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?

15. (derogatory, slang, Britain, particularly northern UK) Synonym of poof: a male homosexual, especially an effeminate one.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English puffen, from Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). Compare Dutch puffen, German Low German puffen, German puffen, Danish puffe, Swedish puffa.

Verb

puff (third-person singular simple present puffs, present participle puffing, simple past and past participle puffed)

1. (intransitive) To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs.
2. (intransitive) To pant.
   • 1692, Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists

     By and by comes the ass back again, Puffing and Blowing, from the Chase.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI

     Puffing and panting, we plodded on until within about a mile of the harbor we came upon a sight that brought us all up standing.

3. (transitive, archaic) To advertise.
4. To blow as an expression of scorn.

   • It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

5. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Boyle to this entry?)

6. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
   • 1633, George Herbert, The Quip

     Then came brave Glory puffing by.

7. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

   • The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

8. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
   • 1685, John Dryden, The Twenty-Ninth Ode of the First Book of Horace

     I puff the prostitute away.

9. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate.

   a bladder puffed with air
10. To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up.
    • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English

      puffed up with military success

11. To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.

Derived terms

• outpuff
• puffed
• puff up
• puff out

Translations

Finnish

Interjection

puff

1. poof (deflating object or a magical disappearance)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?puf?]
• Hyphenation: puff
• Rhymes: -uf?

Etymology 1

From German puffen.

Noun

puff (plural puffok)

1. pouf, puff, pouffe (a backless, rounded, cushioned low stool)
2. (dressmaking) pouf (on the upper part of the sleeves)
3. puff, powder puff (a pad of soft material used for the application of cosmetic powder to the face)

Declension

Etymology 2

Back-formation from puffad, puffant, puffaszt.

Interjection

puff

1. bang! pouf! (onomatopoeia representing a sudden sharp noise or crashing sound)

References

Further reading

• (pouf, puff, pouffe): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN
• (bang): puff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

English

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?pækt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /?k?m?pækt/
• Adjective:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /k?m?pækt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /k?m?pækt/, /?k?m?pækt/
• Verb:
  • (US, UK) IPA^(key): /k?m?pækt/

Etymology 1

From Latin compactum (“agreement”).

Noun

compact (plural compacts)

1. An agreement or contract.

   Synonyms: agreement, contract, pact, treaty

Translations

Verb

compact (third-person singular simple present compacts, present participle compacting, simple past and past participle compacted)

1. (intransitive) To form an agreement or contract.
   • 2004, Ronan Deazley, On the Origin of the Right to Copy (page 94)

     In return for the sovereign's protection, they compacted to police the content of public literature.

Etymology 2

From Middle French [Term?], from Latin comp?ctus, perfect passive participle of comping? (“join together”), from com- (“together”) + pang? (“fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *pag- (“to fasten”).

Adjective

compact (comparative more compact, superlative most compact)

1. Closely packed, i.e. packing much in a small space.

   Synonyms: concentrated, crowded, dense, serried; see also Thesaurus:compact

   Hyponym: ultracompact
2. Having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space.

3. (mathematics, not comparable, of a set in an Euclidean space) Closed and bounded.

4. (topology, not comparable, of a set) Such that every open cover of the given set has a finite subcover.
5. Brief; close; pithy; not diffuse; not verbose.

6. (obsolete) Joined or held together; leagued; confederated.

   • 1622, Henry Peacham (Junior), The Compleat Gentleman

     a pipe of seven reeds, compact with wax together

7. (obsolete) Composed or made; with of.

Derived terms

• compact disc
• locally compact

Translations

Noun

compact (plural compacts)

1. A small, slim folding case, often featuring a mirror, powder and a powderpuff; that fits into a woman's purse or handbag, or that slips into one's pocket.
2. A broadsheet newspaper published in the size of a tabloid but keeping its non-sensational style.
   • 2012, BBC News: Dundee Courier makes move to compact [2]:

     The Dundee Courier has announced the newspaper will be relaunching as a compact later this week. Editor Richard Neville said a "brighter, bolder" paper would appear from Saturday, shrunk from broadsheet to tabloid size.

Translations

Verb

compact (third-person singular simple present compacts, present participle compacting, simple past and past participle compacted)

1. (transitive) To make more dense; to compress.
2. To unite or connect firmly, as in a system.

Synonyms

• (make more dense): compress, condense; see also Thesaurus:compress

Translations

See also

• Compact (cosmetics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• accompt

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French compact, from Latin comp?ctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?m?p?kt/
• Hyphenation: com?pact
• Rhymes: -?kt

Adjective

compact (comparative compacter, superlative compactst)

1. compact (closely packed), dense
2. compact (having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space)

Inflection

Derived terms

• compactheid

French

Etymology

From Latin comp?ctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.pakt/

Adjective

compact (feminine singular compacte, masculine plural compacts, feminine plural compactes)

1. compact (closely packed), dense
2. compact (having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space)

Derived terms

• disque compact

Noun

compact m (plural compacts)

1. compact disc
2. music center (US), music centre (UK)
3. compact camera

Synonyms

• (compact disc): Compact Disc, disque compact

Further reading

• “compact” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology

From French compact, from Latin compactus.

Adjective

compact m or n (feminine singular compact?, masculine plural compac?i, feminine and neuter plural compacte)

1. compact

Declension