whiff
part of speech
noun (a whiff, whiffs); verb (whiff, whiffs, whiffed, whiffing)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) A short smell, often brief or faint: «a whiff of smoke». tree →
2) (noun) A slight sign or hint of something: «a whiff of danger». tree →
3) (verb, UK informal) To smell bad: «Your trainers whiff!» tree →
4) (US, sport) To swing at a ball and miss it completely. tree →
5) A whiff can also be a sudden, short puff of wind or breath. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories a whiff warns or tempts — a whiff of smoke means fire, a whiff of cooking means dinner is near. In safety lessons a whiff of gas or smoke means tell an adult and get out. Phrases: «catch a whiff of», «get a whiff of», «a whiff of scandal».
examples
- I caught a whiff of fresh bread from the bakery. tree →
- There's a whiff of smoke — tell an adult now! tree →
- Your football socks really whiff! tree →
- The dog got a whiff of the fox and ran off. tree →
- A whiff of danger made the explorers stop. tree →
- Mole caught a whiff of his old home and longed to go back. tree →
- The batter whiffed the ball and was out. tree →
- Just then a whiff of wind came rushing by and pressed together the broken edges. tree →
note
Countable noun; plural «whiffs». Past form of verb «whiffed». Adjective «whiffy» (UK informal: smelly). A whiff is short and slight, not a strong lasting smell. If you smell gas at home, leave and call the emergency gas number.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «whiff» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.