ˈpuff-ball
[f. puff n. (sense 3) or v. + ball n.1; so Du. pof-bal: see puff v.]
1. a. A fungus of the genus Lycoperdon or of some allied genus; so called from the ball-like shape of the ripe spore-case, and its emission of the spores in a cloud of fine powder when broken. (Some of the species are edible in an unripe state.)
| 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 34 And filleth the Earth with Wind,..and makes it swell and rise like a Puf⁓ball. 1702 Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1364, I find the Dust of the..Puff-Ball to be the minutest Powder that I ever saw. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 502 Common Puff-ball is roundish, and discharges its dust by a torn aperture in the top. 1843 Zoologist I. 25 Intoxicating the bees..by filling the hive with the smoke of an ignited puff-ball. 1861 H. Macmillan Footnotes fr. Page Nat. 199 The giant puff⁓ball (Bovista gigantea)..increases from the size of a pea to that of a melon in a single night. |
| fig. 1826 Pusey in Liddon, etc. Life (1893) I. iv. 87 [Writing from Berlin..he states that] Tholuck was initiated a few days since,..and that great puff-ball Marheineke delivered addresses in Latin. 1873 Leland Egypt. Sketch Bk. 221 A poisonous puff-ball of pride. |
b. collect. The powdery spores of a species of Lycoperdon used as a styptic.
| 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 173 Over which..it will still be right to apply Puff-Ball,..or some such substance,..to retard the fall of the eschar as long as possible. |
2. = powder-puff 1 a; also transf. and fig.
| 1821–2 Swainson Zool. Illustr. II. Plate 99 The disproportionate size of the head [of the puff-bird] is rendered more conspicuous by the bird raising its feathers so as to appear not unlike a puff ball. 1860 Macm. Mag. Sept. 380/1 The puff-ball of the dandelion. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 396/1 The exquisite little white puff-balls of dogs. |
3. Naut. slang. (See quot.)
| 1933 J. Masefield Bird of Dawning 263 Bloody Bill China had bonnets on his courses and contrivances that he called puffballs in the roaches of his topsails. Ibid. 307 Puff-balls or Save-alls. Extra sails laced to the feet of square sails. |
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Add: 4. Fashion. A short full skirt which is gathered in round the hemline to produce a soft, puffy, billowing form. Usu. attrib., as puffball dress, puff-ball skirt, etc.
| [1960 Times 27 Jan. 12/5 The important silhouette for dresses for after five o'clock is best described as a slender but loosely fitting sheath..with puff-ball drapery.] 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 46 Puffball: See Balloon. 1986 Artseen Dec. 14 (Advt.), Astrakhan Puffball skirt {pstlg}145. 1987 Times 9 June 25/1 Christian Lacroix, the Paris designer,..is credited with introducing the pouffe, otherwise known as the puffball, into the grandest parties. 1988 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 16 Oct. 17/2 She has abandoned skintight leathers and puffball minis, platinum rinses and bootlace ties. |