puffer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various prickly, often poisonous, chiefly marine fishes of the family Tetraodontidae that are capable of puffing up by swallowing water or air. Also called blowfish, swellfish.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who puffs; one who praises with exaggerated and interested commendation.
2. n. One who attends a sale by auction for the purpose of raising the price and exciting the eagerness of bidders to the advantage of the seller. Also called bonnet and whitebonnet.
3. n. A fish that swells or puffs up; specifically, any member of either of the plectognath families Tetrodontidæ and Diodontidæ, all of whose species, some eighty in number, have the habit of inflating themselves with air which they swallow; a swell-fish or globe-fish; a blower. The common puffer or swell-fish, Sphæroides maculatus or Tetrodon turgidus, is a good example. The tambor or smooth puffer is Lagocephalvs lævigalus. The rough puffer is Chilomycterus schœpfi or geometricus. See cuts under Diodon, swell-fish, and Tetrodontidæ.
4. n. A porpoise or puffing-pig.
5. n. In weaving, a vat in which linen and cotton cloth is cleansed by boiling; a bucking-keir.

Wiktionary

1. n. Someone or something that puffs.
2. n. Any of several poisonous fish, of the family Tetraodontidae, which have the ability to puff themselves up when in danger.
3. n. slang A car left idling to warm up, emitting steam from the rear.
4. n. cellular automata A finite pattern that moves like a spaceship but leaves a trail of debris.
5. n. A manually-operated inhaler.
6. n. childish A train; a locomotive.
7. n. dated, slang One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
8. n. The common, or harbour, porpoise.
9. n. A kier used in dyeing.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who puffs; one who praises with noisy or extravagant commendation.
2. n. One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at suction to bid up the price; a by-bidder.
3. n. Any plectognath fish which inflates its body, as the species of Tetrodon and Diodon of the family Tetraodontidae; -- called also blower, puff-fish, swellfish, and globefish. They are highly poisonous due to the presence of glands containing a potent toxin, tetrodotoxin. Nevertheless they are eaten as a delicacy in Japan, being prepared by specially licensed chefs who remove the poison glands.
4. n. The common, or harbor, porpoise.
5. n. (Dyeing) A kier.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of numerous marine fishes whose elongated spiny body can inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several species contain a potent nerve poison; closely related to spiny puffers
2. n. delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison in ovaries and liver