Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive & transitive verb To wave or flutter or to cause to do so.
  • noun A waving or fluttering motion.
  • noun A gust of air; a waft.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An obsolete form of wave.
  • To bark.
  • noun The act of waving.
  • noun A hasty motion.
  • noun A slight stroke from any soft body.
  • noun A sudden or slight ailment: as, a waff o' cauld.
  • noun A spirit or ghost.
  • Worthless; low-born; inferior; paltry.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English waffen, to wave, alteration of waven; see wave.]

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Examples

  • Boris on the Olympics, ping-pong versus whiff-waff and the differing attitudes to dining tables in England and France.

    Archive 2008-08-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • When he visited the 2008 Olympics in Beijing he gave a memorable speech explaining how the British invented ping pong, or "wiff waff" as he informed his audience it was once called.

    Politics live blog - Wednesday 16 June 2010 2010

  • I had to admit that I was overawed by the woman, a jellyfish and a wimp in her presence, allowing her to dismiss my waff lings with a wave of her hand.

    Every living thing Herriot, James 1992

  • Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.

    The Moment Of The Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984

  • Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.

    The Moment Of The Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984

  • Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.

    The Moment of the Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984

  • Everything in the Wrounipai waff slick with moss or rough with fungi.

    The Moment of the Magician Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1984

  • He went bye with a waff of wind in his plaiding, and his haunch-man as he passed at a discreet distance got the double share of jibe and glunch from the mariners.

    John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro

  • "You are very much afraid of a waff of wind blowing on your cousin's name," I would cry.

    John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro

  • But I will tell ye what ye may hear when we get down the hill by the joiner's shop -- and that's the clink o 'the saddle irons, and the waff o' their horses 'lugs as they shake their necks -- them no liking their heads tied up in bags.'

    The Dew of Their Youth 1887

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