FLUFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fluff mean? 

• FLUFF (noun)
  The noun FLUFF has 3 senses:

1. any light downy material

2. something of little value or significance

3. a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)

  Familiarity information: FLUFF used as a noun is uncommon.

• FLUFF (verb)
  The verb FLUFF has 3 senses:

1. make a mess of, destroy or ruin

2. erect or fluff up

3. ruffle (one's hair) by combing the ends towards the scalp, for a full effect

  Familiarity information: FLUFF used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any light downy material

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("fluff" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Derivation:

fluffy (like down or as soft as down)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something of little value or significance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bagatelle; fluff; frippery; frivolity

Hypernyms ("fluff" is a kind of...):

small beer; trifle; trivia; triviality (something of small importance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("fluff" is a kind of...):

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall (an embarrassing mistake)

Derivation:

fluff (make a mess of, destroy or ruin)

• FLUFF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fluff    ... he / she / it fluffs   
Past simple: fluffed   
Past participle: fluffed   
-ing form: fluffing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a mess of, destroy or ruin

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

ball up; blow; bobble; bodge; bollix; bollix up; bollocks; bollocks up; botch; botch up; bumble; bungle; flub; fluff; foul up; fuck up; fumble; louse up; mess up; mishandle; muck up; muff; screw up; spoil

Context example:

the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement

Hypernyms (to "fluff" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fluff (a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Erect or fluff up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fluff; ruffle

Context example:

the bird ruffled its feathers

Hypernyms (to "fluff" is one way to...):

loosen (make less dense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

fluff up (make fuller by shaking)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Ruffle (one's hair) by combing the ends towards the scalp, for a full effect

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

fluff; tease

Hypernyms (to "fluff" is one way to...):

comb; comb out; disentangle (smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They fluff their hair

 Context examples 

A grinning red face turned once more into a pink oval, fringed with gingery fluff; the interview was at an end.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The light from this cluster carves out a bowl in the nearby dust clouds, seen in the imageas green fluff.

(A Space Spider Watches Over Young Stars, NASA)

Now, eight years after spotting this mysterious bit of atmospheric fluff, researchers have determined that it contains methane ice, which produces a much denser cloud than the ethane ice previously identified there.

(NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere, NASA)

A deafening roar, a fluff of bluish light, and the great square tower rocked and trembled from its very foundations, swaying this way and that like a reed in the wind.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)