What's the difference between burst and whiff?

Burst


Definition:

  • (imp. & p. p.) of Burst
  • (v. i.) To fly apart or in pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring.
  • (v. i.) To exert force or pressure by which something is made suddenly to give way; to break through obstacles or limitations; hence, to appear suddenly and unexpectedly or unaccountably, or to depart in such manner; -- usually with some qualifying adverb or preposition, as forth, out, away, into, upon, through, etc.
  • (v. t.) To break or rend by violence, as by an overcharge or by strain or pressure, esp. from within; to force open suddenly; as, to burst a cannon; to burst a blood vessel; to burst open the doors.
  • (v. t.) To break.
  • (v. t.) To produce as an effect of bursting; as, to burst a hole through the wall.
  • (n.) A sudden breaking forth; a violent rending; an explosion; as, a burst of thunder; a burst of applause; a burst of passion; a burst of inspiration.
  • (n.) Any brief, violent exertion or effort; a spurt; as, a burst of speed.
  • (n.) A sudden opening, as of landscape; a stretch; an expanse.
  • (n.) A rupture or hernia; a breach.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This modulation results from repetitive, alternating bursts of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, which are caused at least in part by synaptic feedback to the command neurons from identified classes of neurons in the feeding network.
  • (2) Pokeweed mitogen-stimulated rat spleen cells were identified as a reliable source of rat burst-promoting activity (PBA), which permitted development of a reproducible assay for rat bone marrow erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E).
  • (3) PMNs could be primed for PMA-triggered oxidative burst by muramyl peptide molecules (MDP) and two of its adjuvant active nonpyrogenic derivatives.
  • (4) For each temporal position of the independent noise, discriminability was a function of the ratio of the duration of the independent noise (tau) to the total burst duration.
  • (5) Peripheral blood monocytes undergo an oxidative burst similar to that seen in neutrophils.
  • (6) The 20-year-old now holds two world records after he broke the 50m best at the European Championships in Berlin during a 2014 season which saw him burst on to the international stage.
  • (7) Masking experiments are demonstrated for electrical frequency-modulated tone bursts from 1,000 to 10,000 cps and from 10,000 to 1,000 cps with superimposed clicks.
  • (8) Isolated outer hair cells from the organ of Corti of the guinea pig have been shown to change length in response to a mechanical stimulus in the form of a tone burst at a fixed frequency of 200 Hz (Canlon et al., 1988).
  • (9) Moreover, the most recent combined application of the rat interstitial cell testosterone (RICT) bioassay and a novel multiple-parameter deonvolution model has allowed investigators to dissect plasma concentration profiles of bioactive LH into defined secretory bursts, which have numerically explicit amplitudes, locations in time, and durations, and are acted upon by determinable subject- and study-specific endogenous metabolic clearance rates.
  • (10) By this action, oxytocin is believed to increase the probability of successful regenerative spikes and thereby initiate electrical activity in quiescent preparations, increase the frequency of burst discharges, the number of spikes in each burst, and the amplitude of spikes in individual cells.
  • (11) When we gave her a gift of a few books in English, she burst out crying.
  • (12) Our hypothesis is that phase unlocking may be one of the induction mechanisms of spike-burst activity.
  • (13) As the frequency of the stimulus bursts was progressively changed, the sinoatrial (SA) nodal pacemaker cells became synchronized with the repetitive bursts of stimuli over a certain range of burst frequencies.
  • (14) Respiratory burst activity was evaluated in monolayers of rat inflammatory peritoneal macrophages by measuring: (1) luminol-dependent chemiluminescence and (2) the production of 14CO2 from the oxidation of [1-14C] glucose.
  • (15) After more than 10 weeks, CD34+, CD33- cells gradually recovered, as erythroid burst colony-forming cells increased following GM colony-forming cells.
  • (16) It is suggested that during increased levels of extracellular adenosine the response of LGND relay neurones to activating brainstem influences will be depressed, and a pattern of Ca(2+)-mediated burst firing will be favoured.
  • (17) Polygraphic and videotape recordings, carried out for several nights, showed that after nearly each REM period, he would wake up briefly, presenting eye blinking followed by a burst of generalized hypersynchronous theta to start his seizures.
  • (18) To test this hypothesis 30 Wistar rats were subjected to laparotomy and colonic resection and treated with 5-Fluorouracil or Mitomycin C. The bursting strength of the abdominal scars and the colonic anastomotic bursting pressure revealed some interference in the rats treated with 5-Fluorouracil (Student's t test P less than 0.05) but none in the case of Mitomycin C. This preliminary study deserves to be followed up.
  • (19) For now however, what’s left of their fan base are enjoying a rare burst of sunshine.
  • (20) Similar responses were obtained with gated noise bursts and by pauses in a series of clicks.

Whiff


Definition:

  • (n.) A sudden expulsion of air from the mouth; a quick puff or slight gust, as of air or smoke.
  • (n.) A glimpse; a hasty view.
  • (n.) The marysole, or sail fluke.
  • (v. t.) To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.
  • (v. t.) To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
  • (v. i.) To emit whiffs, as of smoke; to puff.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It may have been like punk never ‘appened, but you caught a whiff of the movement’s scorched earth puritanism in the mocking disdain with which Smash Hits addressed rock-star hedonism.
  • (2) He is also characterised as "the devoted husband of a bestselling novelist with a few of her own ideas about how fiction works"; a funny sentence construction that carries a faint whiff of husband stoically bent over his books as wife keeps popping up with pesky theories about realism.
  • (3) Similar messages delivered by previous populist, independent candidates like Ralph Nader and Ross Perot didn’t catch on because there was always that whiff of ego that voters like me could smell, coupled with lack of experience in government.
  • (4) The local undertakers were pleased to discover the great Henty to be the man they had always imagined - a full-bearded giant, stern and wise, dressed like a warrior hero or - much the same thing - a Victorian gentleman with the whiff of gunpowder and the clash of sabres about him.
  • (5) The zesty, citrus whiff of oranges freshens up the January kitchen, drawing a line under heavy celebratory food, and lighting up the virtuous, but enticing path to a lighter, healthier diet.
  • (6) The presence of three of the following four criteria was necessary: 1) vaginal pH greater than 4.5; 2) clue cells on the saline wet mount; 3) thin, homogeneous-appearing discharge; or 4) positive potassium hydroxide "whiff test."
  • (7) If Gleeson could be the guest speaker, how then could it be described as a “Liberal party event?” Even if it was a party occasion, the commissioner asks: “how does that demonstrate that the speaker has an affinity with a partiality for or a persuasion or allegiance or alignment to the Liberal party or lent it support?” If the fair minded lay observer (FMLO), who in this instance is the judge of apprehended bias, had an idea of Heydon’s record on the high court they might get a whiff of partiality to a particular world view, or philosophy.
  • (8) Despite the success of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there was a whiff of snobbery.
  • (9) Photograph: Jon Tonks for the Guardian During the three years leading up to the final vote, the Sheringham story had often given off a questionable whiff.
  • (10) Great for families, but not those families offended by whiffs of a special herb wafting across the lawn.
  • (11) Yet that entire grand bazaar of old summer chemistry is all blended to me now and I can pick out just one: the first whiff of autumn.
  • (12) Now's as good a time as any to put out this reminder: authorities are on high alert and investigating everything that has even a whiff of suspicion.
  • (13) Paul Doyle The generally positive spirit: most referees allowed robust contact and, in turn, most players did not throw themselves to the ground at the first whiff of contact.
  • (14) It has more than a whiff of the Portsmouths about it.
  • (15) Add to that the venerated reputation of its wine, and a whiff of bourgeois privilege and conservatism, and you expect a city of well-groomed, self-satisfied people.
  • (16) You might even find people who think there is more than a whiff of sexism apparent in the building, and the critiques.
  • (17) 3.56pm: This retweet from the RMT has a Soviet whiff about it: RT @lindapalermo @LDN @rmtlondon #DearRMT I understand why you've called strike action and wish you victory in your actions.
  • (18) Male sketchwriters and assorted Westminster aficionados either affected bemused indulgence on behalf of their slighted sisters or scented the whiff of political-correctness-gone-mad.
  • (19) The venue was deserted and, more annoyingly, it was situated down a lane, affording the audience a whiff of urine prior to entering the palace of doom that I'd paid £7,500 for the privilege of hiring.
  • (20) He said there was a whiff of revenge in the air – for the police inquiry into MPs' expenses and the unjustified arrest in 2008 of the Tory MP Damian Green over a series of leaks from the Home Office about immigration.