What's the difference between boast and puff?

Boast


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To vaunt one's self; to brag; to say or tell things which are intended to give others a high opinion of one's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth.
  • (v. i.) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
  • (v. t.) To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
  • (v. t.) To display vaingloriously.
  • (v. t.) To possess or have; as, to boast a name.
  • (v. t.) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
  • (v. t.) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.
  • (n.) Act of boasting; vaunting or bragging.
  • (n.) The cause of boasting; occasion of pride or exultation, -- sometimes of laudable pride or exultation.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But Abaaoud, the man thought to be a key planner for the group behind the Paris attacks, boasted to a niece that he had brought around 90 militants back to Europe with him.
  • (2) If that's something to boast about, then living off inherited wealth must be something to be ashamed of.
  • (3) Grillo boasted it had achieved its prominence in the space of little more than three years, "with no money and no [state] funding."
  • (4) We fought back and we won,” she said, boasting that the CFPB had already recouped $4bn for ordinary people from major financial institutions.
  • (5) He boasts that his time as America's ambassador to China shows more experience in vital foreign policy than any other candidate.
  • (6) Compare her with Megan Draper, who is in a minidress too, but one that is several inches shorter and boasts the swirling lava-lamp prints that may have been seen in Vogue at the time.
  • (7) 'No social housing' boasts luxury London flat advert for foreign investors Read more Only by rebalancing housing provision can we avoid another bursting property bubble.
  • (8) You get like three days where you have to show up?” But the younger rival managed to turn difficult questions into an opportunity to boast of his humble background and promise of change.
  • (9) For real will-this-do illustrating, look no further than conjoined twins Tip and Tap , although they admittedly boast a certain erstaz charm not seen post- Pique (the much-maligned Goleo VI and Pille the Erudite Ball apart).
  • (10) Among the secret papers about their abduction that were discovered during the Libyan revolution was a signed letter from the then head of counter-terrorism at MI6, Mark Allen , in which he boasted of his agency's role in one of the operations.
  • (11) A friend heard the butcher boast five shillings that he would be let off again by the tribunal, for the sixth time.
  • (12) The museum is also planning a "new major exhibition" in Manchester and boasts of leading a global network of more than 1,600 cultural and educational organisations for the commemorations, due to run until 2018.
  • (13) So it’s comforting to note that Spectre seems to be offering a significant upgrade: the trailer shows Q introducing Bond to his new ultra-speedy Aston Martin DB10, and promising it boasts a “few tricks”.
  • (14) He will not be easily replaced, but Ogletree is the top inside linebacker in this year's draft, boasting greater range and athleticism than the more talked-about Manti Te'o.
  • (15) This term, the nursery school boasts eight nationalities.
  • (16) The rightwing extremist who confessed to the mass killings in Norway boasted in court on Monday that there were two more cells from his terror network still at large, prompting an international investigation for collaborators.
  • (17) The men and women between them can now boast four medals at this Games, surpassing their targets (they had hoped for one or two), not to mention the British women's best placing in 84 years in the team final.
  • (18) But her departure is also likely to mark the end of a period when the last cabinet secretary, Gus (now Lord) O'Donnell, could make his favourite boast that under his watch half the people in charge of government departments were women.
  • (19) Speaking in Queensland earlier this month , Abbott boasted that “any other government, I suspect, would quickly succumb to the cries of the human rights lawyers”.
  • (20) And the presence of actively engaged men was another sign of what seems to have been new and transformative this year – which is key, because changing the world for women means changing what is acceptable and admirable among men, where misogynist behaviour has long been, in some circles, something to boast about.

Puff


Definition:

  • (n.) A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff.
  • (n.) Anything light and filled with air.
  • (n.) A puffball.
  • (n.) a kind of light pastry.
  • (n.) A utensil of the toilet for dusting the skin or hair with powder.
  • (n.) An exaggerated or empty expression of praise, especially one in a public journal.
  • (n.) To blow in puffs, or with short and sudden whiffs.
  • (n.) To blow, as an expression of scorn; -- with at.
  • (n.) To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion.
  • (n.) To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated.
  • (n.) To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.
  • (v. t.) To drive with a puff, or with puffs.
  • (v. t.) To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.
  • (v. t.) To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air.
  • (v. t.) To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, or the like; -- often with up.
  • (v. t.) To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly.
  • (a.) Puffed up; vain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The 68C intermolt puff of Drosophila melanogaster contains a cluster of three glue protein genes, Sgs-3, Sgs-7, and Sgs-8.
  • (2) The results indicated that smoke, as opposed to sham puffs, significantly reduced reports of cigarette craving, and local anesthesia significantly blocked this immediate reduction in craving produced by smoke inhalation.
  • (3) Neurons in deprived puffs and interpuffs were generally similar in size to those in nondeprived regions, although CO-reactive cells were significantly smaller in the deprived puffs of monkeys enucleated for 28.5 or 60 wks.
  • (4) In regions without temperature-induced puffs RNA synthesis and its transport are apparently delayed under influence of heat shock.
  • (5) Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver is amusing himself by trying to take a puff of a cigar in his saddle.
  • (6) However, in a double-cue conditioning paradigm in which both command words were presented alone on different trials and reinforced, response latency was longer and puff attenuation poorer among Vs than when the UCS was signaled by a unique cue.
  • (7) These two puffs are located at the end of the E12 inversion.
  • (8) The results that while in the control T3L and T2L nuclei (22 degrees C), the 93D puff shows a higher level of transcriptional activity than in the Oregon R+ or compound stocks used as controls, in T3L and T2L nuclei from heat-shocked sets (37 degrees C), 93D does not show further induction compared with heat-shocked controls, and the 87C puff is 2.8 times more active than the 87A puff.
  • (9) A previously described smoking apparatus (20) was used for measurement of puff volume and inhaled tar.
  • (10) Similar to area 17, more GABA- and glycine-labeled neurons were observed within the puff regions than in nonpuff regions.
  • (11) He added: "Why on earth is this useless Goverment pandering to Puffs?
  • (12) Male volunteers for mass radiography examination, aged 40 or more, were questioned about their sputum production, smoking habits, and, when applicable, their method of smoking cigarettes.Of 5,438 cigarette smokers 460 (8.4%) smoked their cigarettes without removing the cigarette from the mouth between puffs ("drooping" cigarette smokers) whereas the rest smoked in the normal manner.Persons who admitted to producing sputum from their chests on most days of the year or on most days for at least three months of the year for a minimum of two years were classified as chronic bronchitics in the absence of other causative disease.The rate of chronic bronchitis among the "drooping" cigarette smokers (41.5%) was considerably greater than that among those smoking cigarettes in the normal manner (33.6%).
  • (13) In experiment 3, average puff volumes and CO boosts were examined during smoking periods with short (3, 10, and 30 minutes) deprivation intervals.
  • (14) The home side lost Raheem Sterling, who injured a groin in a challenge with Juan Mata, and even when they pinned back their opponents for periods of the second half it was a lot of huff and puff without too much guile.
  • (15) These data support previous suggestions indicating a substantial contribution of transcriptional products from small puffs and interbands to the whole transcriptional system of polytene chromosomes.
  • (16) The number of NPY-containing neurons in the puffs is substantially less than that expected in an equal volume of the interpuffs (X2 = 13.86; df = 1; P less than 0.001).
  • (17) The rearing of insects at a temperature of 29 degrees resulted in puff changes: the activity of some puffs increased or depressed, some puffs were inhibited, other puffs were induced newly.
  • (18) The CO yields were found to increase with puff volume and tobacco moisture, decrease with increased paper porosity, but remain essentially constant with puff duration.
  • (19) T he Japanese have a saying”, said Willi Hartenstein, pausing for a reflective puff on a cheroot.
  • (20) Dosage for an acute attack in children is 1 puff (200 micrograms), repeated within 5 minutes if necessary; in adults 1-3 puffs can be given.