poof

English

Alternative forms

• pouf

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic. See also puff.

Pronunciation

• enPR: po͝of, IPA^(key): /pʊf/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /puːf/, [puːɸ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊf, -uːf
• Homophones: pouf, pouffe (with certain dialects and/or accents)

Interjection

poof

1. Onomatopoeia indicating a small explosion with a cloud of smoke; as caused by a deflating object, or a magical disappearance.

   Poof, he was gone.

   • 1969, Beard & Kennedy, Bored of the Rings, page 87:

     Even now, in the spring, the river softly cries, 'Menthol, Menthol, you are one wazoo. One day I'm the elf next door and the poof I'm a river.'

   • 1995, Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects (motion picture), spoken by Verbal (Kevin Spacey):

     The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.

Derived terms

• foofy
• go poof
• poofy

Translations

deflating object or a magical disappearance

• Finnish: puff (fi)
• French: pouf (fr)
• German: puff (de)
• Polish: puf (pl)
• Portuguese: puf
• Spanish: puf (es)
• Swedish: poff, pysa (sv) (verb, deflation)

Verb

poof (third-person singular simple present poofs, present participle poofing, simple past and past participle poofed)

1. To vanish or disappear.

   He poofed into thin air.

   • 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 22:

     He's a figment of your subconscious Eric, not mine, so I tapped into Ultimate Reality and poofed him out.

2. (intransitive) To break wind; to fart.

Translations

to vanish

• French: s’évanouir (fr), s’évaporer (fr), disparaître (fr)
• Polish: znikać (pl)
• Swedish: gå upp i rök (sv), pysa (sv)

to fart

• Finnish: pierrä (fi)
• French: péter (fr), prouter (fr)
• Swedish: fisa (sv), fjärta (sv), prutta (sv)

Noun

poof (plural poofs)

1. The product of flatulence, or the sound of breaking wind.

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

poof (plural poofs or (less common) pooves)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, colloquial) A gay man; especially one who is effeminate.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:male homosexual

   • 2015, Irvine Welsh, A Decent Ride‎^[1], Random House, →ISBN, page 21:

     He recalls how everybody got called a ‘poof’ at Forrester High School in the seventies. Back then, only ‘wanker’ possibly rivalled it as the most common term of abuse. But The Poof was the Poof.

Derived terms

• poofter

Translations

A male homosexual.

• Bulgarian: педераст (bg) m (pederast)
• Catalan: marieta (ca) m, marica (ca) m, maricó (ca) m
• Finnish: hintti (fi)
• French: pédale (fr) f, tante (fr) f, tapette (fr) f
• Hungarian: buzi (hu)
• Italian: finocchio (it) m, checca (it) f
• Norwegian: skrulle m or f, fjolle m or f
• Polish: pedał (pl) m, pedzio (pl) m
• Portuguese: bicha (pt)
• Russian: голубо́й (ru) (golubój)
• Swedish: fjolla (sv) c

The product of flatulence.

• Danish: prut (da)
• Finnish: pieru (fi) sg
• French: pet (fr) m, prout (fr) m
• Swedish: fis (sv) c, fjärt (sv) c, prutt (sv) c