ˈpowder-puff
1. a. A soft pad, usually of down, for applying powder to the skin. b. An instrument like a small bellows formerly used for powdering the hair.
| a 1704 T. Brown Pleas. Lett. to Gent. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 16 A Powder-puff. 1841 J. W. Orderson Creol. xix. 229 This..made him..pass the powder-puff..over his hair. 1851 in Illustr. Lond. News 5 Aug. (1854) 119/3 Occupations of People..Powder-puff maker. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. x. 206 Topsy and Mopsy were improved by the powder puff. |
2. transf. a. ? Contemptuously applied to a man with powdered hair, a fop. b. Applied to a young gull with downy feathers.
| 1731 Fielding Lottery ii, Is this the fellow for whom I am unknown? this powderpuff. 1891 Daily News 14 Oct. 2/8 Myriads of gulls..sitting about, of all sizes, from tiny powder-puffs to the stately wide-winged, full grown birds. |