chuff

«chuff» in Mova's school dictionary: verb To make the puffing sound of a steam train: chuff-chuff — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (chuff, chuffs, chuffed, chuffing); noun (a chuff); adjective: chuffed (UK)

meaning for a pupil

1) verb To make the puffing sound of a steam train: chuff-chuff. tree →

2) chuffed (UK, informal): very pleased. tree →

3) (UK, rude slang) Bottom; «chuffing» and «chuff me» are mild swear words like «flipping». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories steam trains «chuff» along. In British everyday speech «I'm chuffed» or «chuffed to bits» means «I'm very pleased». «Chuffing» (as in «chuffing heck») is a mild, slightly rude word used when annoyed, mostly in northern England; not for school. Phrases: «chuffed to bits», «chuff along».

examples

• The little steam train chuffed up the hill. tree →
• Chuff, chuff, chuff went the engine. tree →
• I'm well chuffed with my new bike. (UK) tree →
• Mum was chuffed to bits with her present. tree →
• «Chuffing heck, it's raining again!» said Uncle Dave. (rude) tree →
• The kettle chuffed out steam. tree →

note

«Chuffed» is the common form and means pleased (UK, Ireland, Australia). Strange trap: «not chuffed» means displeased. «Chuffing» as a swear is mild but still rude.

In the corpora

• Tigers greet friends with a soft puffing sound called chuffing, or prusten; they can roar too, but chuffing is for friends.
• Tigers greet each other with a friendly puffing sound called chuffing, and they cannot purr like a house cat.
• Tadhg is chuffed (very pleased) for a week.
• Wynne is half insulted and half chuffed that Gwil cares, but a fake win feels like pity.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «chuff» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.