Also 6–7 whiffe, 8–9 whif. [? Partly an alteration of ME. WEFFE (= offensive odor or taste, vapor, hoisted signal), partly a new onomatopœic formation. The senses are in part identical with those of WAFF sb. and WAFT sb.1]
I. 1. A slight puff or gust of wind, a breath.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 334. The Winde … Whirls with a whiff the sails of swelling clout.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 495. With the whiffe and winde of his fell Sword, Th’ vnnerued Father fals.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 195. Their ensignes … Waue to and fro with whiffes of wind.
1786. in Mme. D’Arblay’s Diary, 6 Oct. A whiff [of wind] from the King’s stairs, enough to blow you half a mile off!
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xxxix. Give her a whiff of fresh air with the bellows, Charley.
b. transf. and fig. A ‘breath,’ ‘blast,’ ‘burst.’
1644. Milton, Areop., 24. That the whiffe of every new pamphlet should stagger them out of thir catechism. Ibid. (1649), Eikon., xxvii. 222. Deny’d and repuls’d by the single whiffe of a negative.
1766. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IX. ii. A whiff of military pride had puffed out his shirt at the wrist.
1817. Byron, Beppo, liii. They had their little differences, too; Those jealous whiffs, which never any change meant.
1851. G. Bromley, Ess., Wordsw. (1860), 170. The Quarterly Review … issued a mild whiff of qualified approval.
1878. Hardy, Ret. Native, V. ix. There seemed to be not a whiff of life left in either of the bodies.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xx. This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver down.
1912. Times Lit. Suppl., 13 June, 241/1. Factories … brought with them the first whiff of cotton-spinning democracy.
c. A slight attack, ‘touch’; = WAFF sb. 3 b.
1837. Carlyle, New Lett. (1904), I. 58. I have twice had flying whiffs of cold.
2. An inhalation of tobacco-smoke; smoke so inhaled; in early use also, † the ‘taking’ of tobacco, smoking (to take the whiff, to smoke).
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., Dram. pers. His chiefe exercises are taking the Whiffe, squiring a Cocatrice, and making priuy searches for Imparters. Ibid., III. i. Sog. … Doe you professe these sleights in Tabacco?… Punt. But you cannot bring him to the Whiffe so soone?
1600. Marston, etc., Jack Drums Entert., I. (1601), B 3. Iust like a whiffe of Tabacco, no sooner in at the mouth, but out at the nose.
1603–37. Breton, Poste with Packet Lett., Wks. (Grosart), II. 35/2. Tobacco is like to grow a great commoditie, for there is not an Ostler nor a Tapster, but will be at his whiffe or two.
1607. Walkington, Optic Glass, ix. 54. Tobacco … must needs be very pernicious in regard of the immoderate & too ordinary whiffe.
1690. J. Stevens, Jrnl. (1912), 139. Seven or eight will gather to the smoking of a pipe and each taking two or three whiffs gives it to his neighbour.
a. 1718. Prior, Epigr., Frank carves very ill. Four Pipes after Dinner he constantly smokes; And seasons his Whifs with impertinent Jokes.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, IV. xvi. Gaffer Andrews … complained bitterly that he wanted his pipe, not having had a whiff that morning.
1812. Heyne, Tracts on India (1814), 392. The Malays … roll a little tobacco in a small piece of plantain leaf,… and after it is lighted, take only a few whifs, and throw the rest away.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, i. He had taken his pipe from his lips, after a very long whiff to keep it alight.
1886. G. R. Sims, Ring o’ Bells, Prol. 1. He took a couple of whiffs at his long church-warden.
† b. A sip or draught of liquor. Obs.
1605. Tryall Chev., III. i. E j b. I had but a whiffe or two; for I was passing dry.
1624. Bp. Hall, True Peacemaker, Wks. (1625), 539. In beds of lust, chests of Mammon, whiffes and draughts of intoxication.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. vi. 31. I will yet go drink one whiffe more [orig. encores quelque veguade].
3. A wave or waft of (usually unsavory) odor.
1668. R. L’Estrange, Vis. Quev. (1708), 237. The Poysonous Whiffs she sends from her Toes and Arm-Pits.
1731. Swift, Strephon & Chloe, 12. No noisom Whiffs or sweaty Streams … Could from her taintless body flow.
1774. Burke, Sp. Amer. Tax., Wks. 1842, I. 172. To whom a single whiff of incense withheld gave much greater pain, than he received delight in the clouds of it.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 469. A whiff Of stale debauch.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., v. That whiff of russia leather, too, and all those rows on rows of volumes, neatly ranged within.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xiii. 182. A whiff of honeysuckle was borne to us as we passed.
1884. Mrs. C. Praed, Zéro, i. Is not the very name Monte Carlo like a whiff of some intoxicating draught?
b. fig. Flavor, savor.
1872. Morley, Voltaire, vii. 321. Apologising for some whiffs of orthodoxy which Voltaire scented.
1895. Rashdall, Univ. Europe Mid. Ages, II. I. 514, note. There is a whiff of the Renaissance about the very words of the Statute.
4. A pull of smoke or vapor, esp. of tobacco-smoke.
1714. Addison, Spect., No. 568, ¶ 1. I lighted it at a little wax candle … and, after having thrown in two or three whiffs among them, sat down.
1752. Lady’s Curiosity, 10. He … knocks you down with a whiff, or a f—, if you ask for an argument.
1839. Longf., Wreck of Hesperus, 19. The skipper he blew a whiff from his pipe.
1875. Howells, Foregone Conclus., vii. The … heaven, in whose vast blue depths hung light whiffs of pinkish cloud.
b. transf. A cigarette or small cigar.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 60. Cheroot Maker. Whiff Maker.
1896. Daily News, 9 March, 5/4. The popular form of these daintily-got-up cigarettes is a ‘whiff’ of about two inches in length.
5. A puffing or whistling sound, as of a puff or gust of wind through a small opening; a short or gentle whistle; hence freq. = WHEW (also as int.).
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, IV. i. Nic. … pull’d out a Boatswain’s Whistle; upon the first Whiff, the Tradesmen came jumping into the Room.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, xxxii[i]. Sir Willoughby … made … no other reply than a long whiff, and a ‘Well, Russelton, dash my wig … but you’re a queer fellow.’
1847. Tennyson, Princess, Concl. 58. But yonder, whiff! there comes a sudden heat.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., ix. Now we read the ‘Hercules’ on the engine, and anon it pulls up with a whiff, a puff, and a whistle.
1869. Lowell, Cathedral, 74. Sunshine, whose quick charm … wiled the bluebird to his whiff of song.
1876. Bristowe, Theory & Pract. Med. (1878), 387. A like whiff or blowing sound follows each sonorous expiratory shock of cough.
b. A discharge of shot or explosive.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VII. vii. Six years ago, this Whiff of Grapeshot was promised.
1870. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., Feb., 90. He might clear the gangway for the boarders with a ‘whiff’ of this terrible projectile [i.e., grape-shot].
1915. ‘Ian Hay,’ First Hundred Thou., II. xviii. 251. A whiff o’ shrapnel will dae nae harrm to thae strawberry-jam pinchers!
6. In a whiff: in a short time, in a jiffy. dial.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., s.v., In a whiff, in a short time.
1888. Amélie Rives, in Lippincott’s Mag., April, 454. All this passed through his mind in a whiff.
II. 7. A flag hoisted as a signal.
Cf. WAFF sb. 1 b, WAFT sb.1 6, WAIF sb.2 2, WEFFE, WHIFFLER2 3, WHIFT sb. 2.
1693. Lyde, Retaking Ship, 20. I took a Sash from one of them,… and put it out for a Whiff.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xlviii. The stranger … hoisted a whiff, half-mast down.
III. 8. A light kind of outrigged boat for one sculler, used on the Thames.
1859. Guardian, 13 April, 331/1. The accidental upsetting of a pleasure-boat, called a ‘whiff,’ on the river Cherwell.
1875. H. R. Robertson, Life Upper Thames, 209–10. A funny is an open, out-rigged sculling-boat, having stem and stern alike, the keel falling away in a sloping curve from either end. A whiff resembles a funny in every point, except that the stern is upright, and not sloped away as the bows are.
1880. Daily News, 2 March, 5/1. Every Etonian who has passed an examination in swimming may boat during the summer half-year in skiffs or whiffs, gigs and outriggers.
1910. Encycl. Brit., IV. 100/1. Whiff. Length. 20′ to 23′. Beam. 1′ 4″ to 1′ 6″…. Whiff Gigs. 19′ to 20′. 2′ 8″ to 2′ 10″.
