Sc. and north. dial. [see FLUFF v.2] A puff; a quick, short blast, a whiff; a slight explosion. lit. and fig.
1819. ‘Rennie,’ St. Patrick, III. i. 31. I’m sure an ye warna a fish or something war, ye could never a’ keepit ae fluff o’ breath in the body o’ ye in aneath the loch.
1871. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, x. You’ll see how cozily we’ll blaze together to a white ash, and go off at the same minute with a fluff of affection. Ibid., xviii. When one or both of the nuts leaped off with a ‘fluff,’ the lassies giggled and the lads gave vent to ejaculations of mock indignation or pity.
b. Comb., as fluff-gib, a squib, ‘explosion of gunpowder’ (Jam.).
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxi. Wi’ fighting, and flashes, and fluff-gibs, disturbing the king’s peace and disarming his soldiers.
