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.
Quotation dates: 1787-1952
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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.
