subs. (GROSE).—1. ‘A small satirical or political temporary jeu d’esprit, which, like the fire-work of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.’
2. (artists’).—A brush.
3. (old).—See quot.
1731. St. James’s Evening Post [W. C. SYDNEY, England and the English in Eighteenth Century, i. 229], ‘List of Officers attached to Gaming-houses’ … 4. Two Puffs, who have money given them to play with…. 6. A SQUIB who is a puff of a lower rank, who serves at half salary while he is learning to deal.
4. (costers’).—In pl. = asparagus.
Verb. (old).—To lampoon.
