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waft - 6 dictionary results
waft
[waft, wahft] 
–verb (used with object)
| 1. | to carry lightly and smoothly through the air or over water: The gentle breeze wafted the sound of music to our ears. |
| 2. | to send or convey lightly, as if in flight: The actress wafted kisses to her admirers in the audience. |
| 3. | Obsolete. to signal to, summon, or direct by waving. |
–verb (used without object)
| 4. | to float or be carried, esp. through the air: The sound wafted on the breeze. The music wafted across the lake. |
–noun
| 5. | a sound, odor, etc., faintly perceived: a waft of perfume. |
| 6. | a wafting movement; light current or gust: a waft of air. |
| 7. | the act of wafting. |
| 8. | Also, waif. Nautical. a signal given by waving a flag. |
Origin:
1535–45; back formation from late ME waughter armed escort vessel < D or LG wachter watchman; in some senses confused with waff
1535–45; back formation from late ME waughter armed escort vessel < D or LG wachter watchman; in some senses confused with waff
Related forms:
wafter, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To waft
| waft (wäft, wāft) v. waft·ed, waft·ing, wafts v. tr.
To float easily and gently, as on the air; drift: "It was a heat that wafted from streets, rolled between buildings and settled over sidewalks" (Sarah Lyall). n.
[Back-formation from wafter, convoy ship, alteration of Middle English waughter, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German wachter, a guard, from wachten, to guard; see weg- in Indo-European roots.] waft'er n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Waft
Waft\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Wafting.] [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]1. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Obs.] But soft: who wafts us yonder? --Shak. 2. To cause to move or go in a wavy manner, or by the impulse of waves, as of water or air; to bear along on a buoyant medium; as, a balloon was wafted over the channel. A gentle wafting to immortal life. --Milton. Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole. --Pope. 3. To cause to float; to keep from sinking; to buoy. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne. Note: This verb is regular; but waft was formerly som?times used, as by Shakespeare, instead of wafted.Waft
Waft\, v. i. To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float. And now the shouts waft near the citadel. --Dryden.Waft
Waft\, n. 1. A wave or current of wind. "Everywaft of the air." --Longfellow. In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains In one wide waft. --Thomson. 2. A signal made by waving something, as a flag, in the air. 3. An unpleasant flavor. [Obs.] 4. (Naut.) A knot, or stop, in the middle of a flag. [Written also wheft.] Note: A flag with a waft in it, when hoisted at the staff, or half way to the gaff, means, a man overboard; at the peak, a desire to communicate; at the masthead, "Recall boats."
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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waft
1513, "to carry over water," back-formation from obs. wafter "convoy ship" (1482), from M.Du. or M.L.G. wachter "a guard," from wachten "to guard," related to waken "rouse from sleep" (see wake (1)). The meaning "pass through air or space, float" is first attested 1704, and possibly shows some influence of northern dialect waff "cause to move to and fro" (1513), a variant of wave.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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