Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
FLUFF, v., n.1 Cf. Flaff.
I. v. 1. tr. and intr. To puff, blow. Gen.Sc.; to explode gently. Ppl.adj. fluffed, puffed, out of breath.Abd. 1787 A. Shirrefs Poems (1790) 21:
But, yet, nae ferly gin I'm fluff'd, By Fortune I ha'e lang been buff'd.Sc. 1825 Jam.:
To fluff powder, to burn gunpowder, to make it fly off.Sc. 1855 J. Ogilvie Imp. Dict. Suppl.:
Fluffed i' the pan, burned priming without firing the barrel of the gun or pistol.Per. 1900 E.D.D.:
Fluff out the candle.Abd. 1903 Banffshire Jnl. (16 June) 3:
Sometimes the smoke would . . . go fluffin ben among the blackened bauks of the roof-trees.
2. To flutter, move lightly in a breeze. Of a bird, to dust itself (Bnff.16 1952).Slk. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 72:
We borit the breiste of the bursting swale, Or fluffit i' the flotyng faem.Ayr. 1890 J. Service Notandums 20:
The labies o' his sark were wamflin' in the win', fluffin' and fanklin' wi' the puir auld body's bany legs.Sh. 1952 J. Hunter Taen wi da Trow 246:
Whaar ance da sporrows oased ta play An fluff among da saft grey stoor.
3. To fuss, to potter.Dmf. 1857 T. Carlyle Letters (ed. Bliss 1953) 324:
He has brought back his malodorous Photographing Apparatus; was fluffing about all Saturday with it.
4. tr. To wave, to flap.Abd. 1892 J. Cromar Prodigal's Wife xvii.:
The mistress has nae richt to fluff aboot ony man's letter as if it war a play bill.
II. n. 1. A puff (Lnk. 1825 Jam.; Cai. 1900 E.D.D.; a slight explosion (Cai. 1900 E.D.D.); a small amount, a pinch of any flaky, powdery substance, like meal (Abd.13 1910). Used adv. or excl., with a puff, puff! (Sc. 1880 Jam.). Adj. fluffle, -y, powdery, easily blown about, as “ashes, hair-powder, meal, etc.” (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); puffy, chubby (Abd., m.Lth., Gall. 1952).Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick III. 31:
I'm sure an' ye warna a fish or something war, ye could never a' keepit ae fluff o' breath in the body o' ye in aneath the loch.Dmf. 1847 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes 224:
Gin a fluff o' gunpowder had come out o' the grund, it couldna hae gart the fairy loup heicher.Kcb.6 1916:
Fluffy Cheeks and Piper Noddle Went away to fley the bogle.Ork. 1922 J. Firth Reminisc. 114:
Fluffs o' reek hung thick and low, Frae hearth wi' divots sweein'.Abd.26 1939:
A fluff of the lill, a draw of one's pipe, a smoke.
Comb.: †fluf-gib, a squib; contemptuously in quot. for fire-arms.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxi.:
When Rob was an honest weel-doing drover, and nane o' this unlawfu' wark, wi' fighting, and flashes, and fluf-gibs.
†2. A flutter, a flap.Sc. 1831 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) III. 146:
The demon . . . gies a fluff and a flap wi' his huge wings.
