foof

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fuːf/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

foof (plural foofs)

1. An audible puff of wind.
   • 1969, Beard & Kennedy, Bored of the Rings, page 85:

     "Hawley Smoot," he said, striking the door with his wand, and with a smoky 'foof' the door disappeared[.]

2. (UK, slang) The vulva or vagina.
   • 2013, Karenne Griffin, New Voices in the Valley, page 299:

     ‘You may have a ring on your hand but I'm of the opinion there's no chastity belt on your foof,’ he whispered.

   • 2017 November 19, John Crace, The Guardian:

     I am proud of my foof. A vagina is empowering.

3. (slang) An exasperating person.
   • 1966, Abe Burrows, Cactus Flower, page 93:

     He's an old foof.

   • 1994, Martin O'Malley, Sean O'Malley, Game day: the Blue Jays at SkyDome, page 162:

     This press box is full of foofs.

4. (slang) An eccentric, foolish, or senile person, usually an old man; a coot, codger, or dotard.
   • 1982, Bob Carroll, The Coffin Corner, volume 4, number 2:

     I said I didn't know but thought 1950 Los Angeles Rams might have been better. He agreed I didn't know. He said I was an old foof and I said Oh Yeah! or something snappy like that.

   • 1990 June 17, John Flautz, “'Oklahoma!' Rousing at Shawnee”, in The Morning Call:

     If you think of it as the show that switched American musical theatre permanently out of sweet music and Sig Romberg, where it belonged, you're an old foof. If you think of it as a stage dinosaur from when people worried about who sang a song best rather than whose song it was, you're a young squirt.

foof

1. Used to express exasperation or frustration
   • 2011, L. Sprague deCamp, The Hand of Zei:

     Oh foof. You swim like a fish.

   • 2013, Sheri S. Tepper, Wizard's Eleven:

     Which was idiotic, because there were Necromantic ones, Ghouls and Bonedancers and even Rancelmen. Oh well, and foof.

   • 2013, Simon Robinson, A Year with Rudolf Nureyev:

     'Foof! They don't care!' Rudolf said.

   • 2013, Robyn Parnell, The Mighty Quinn, page 131:

     “Ah, foof!” Quinn sputtered.

2. Onomatopoeia indicating an explosive burst of air.
   • 1986, NDQ, North Dakota Quarterly - Volume 54, Issues 3-4, page 59:

     "Foof!" he cried. "The world went foof."

   • 2005, Dan Rodgers, I Thought You Brought the Can Opener:

     I was desperately searching for the emergency cord when I landed spread-eagle in the frozen creek bed. Foof! The impact caused the chute to finally deploy.

foof (third-person singular simple present foofs, present participle foofing, simple past and past participle foofed)

1. To fluff; to cause to puff up.
   • 1995, Dorian Yeager, Eviction by Death, page 123:

     I foofed my hair and buzzed the door open, swiping cat hairs from my chest so that I wouldn't leave a tacky hug imprint.

   • 2011, Marley Gibson, The Discovery, page 20:

     I'm home from school with barely enough time to foof my hair, brush my teeth, and dab on a little extra mascara before the front doorbell rings.

   • 2011, Randy Powel, The Whistling Toilets:

     What, you gonna wear a glittery sequin tuxedo and foof your hair and play the piano for them?

   • 2011, Cate Kendall, Armani Angels, page 12:

     She straightened her dress and foofed her hair as she jostled herself into position.

2. To blow air through the lips while they are pressed together or against skin; to blow a raspberry.
   • 1973, A. Wilber Stevens, Stories Southwest, page 36:

     "Foof me, Dad." She pulled up her sweatshirt. "No." "Foof me. Please." "I'll foof you," Mad said. "No, I want my Dad to foof me. Foof me, Dad." She puffed out her stomach and looked at it.

   • 1986, George Mazzei, Moving Up, page 54:

     Then those people who foofed and humphed start calling meetings about why there's not this kind of thinking coming out of Foof & Humph Industries.

• ooff