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ng; instruction; acquaintance; enlightenment; learning; scholarship; erudition. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 1 Cor. viii. 1. Ignorance is the curse of God; -Knowledge, the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. Shak.

s and desires; now, specifically, one who gives rein to lust; a rake; a debauchee. Like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. Shak.

A puff of smoke. [Scotch.] Burns.

orming a fine dust, which is thrown out like smoke when the plant is compressed or burst; puffball.

ail, containing only about three vertebrae. -- Manx shearwater (Zoöl.), an oceanic bird (Puffinus anglorum, or P. puffinus), called also Manx petrel, Manx puffin. It was formerly abundant in the Isle of Man.

The puffin. [Prov. Eng.] [Written also marrott, and morrot.]

A genus of sea birds, having a large, thick bill; the puffin.

The envelope or coat of certain fungi, such as the puffballs and earthstars.

To throw out, as smoke, dust, etc., in puffs. [Scot.]

having a plumelike structure over each eye. It is venomous, and is related to the African puff adder. Called also horned viper and hornsman. -- Plumed partridge (Zoöl.), the California mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus). See Mountain quail, under Mountain.

lied to the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also harbor porpoise, herring hag, puffing pig, and snuffer.

essels to carry powder; a powder boy. -- Powder post. See Dry rot, under Dry. -- Powder puff. See Puff, n.

Puffed out, pursy; pudgy; fat. [Obs.] Drant.

A puffball.

A puffball.

Affected with purse pride; puffed up with the possession of riches.

A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair. [Local, U.S.]

tely; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate. One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies, And draws and blows reciprocating air. Dryden. Reciprocating engine, a steam, air, or gas engine, etc., in which the piston moves back and forth; -- in distinction from a rotary engine, in which the piston t…

To swell or puff up in the process of fermentation; to become light, as dough, and the like.

e capybara. -- River horse (Zoöl.), the hippopotamus. -- River jack (Zoöl.), an African puff adder (Clotho nasicornis) having a spine on the nose. -- River limpet (Zoöl.), a fresh-water, air-breathing mollusk of the genus Ancylus, having a limpet-shaped shell. -- River pirate (Zoöl.), the pike. -- River snail (Zoö…