a. Dressmaking. [F. bouffant, -ante, pr. pple. of bouffer to swell.] Puffed out, bulging.
1880. Cassell’s Mag., June, 441. Dress improvers are coming in … and all the Parisian short dresses are more or less bouffante. Ibid. (1883), Nov., 756/2. Mantles … are … quite short at the back, and bouffant.
