Verb. (colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.
1607. How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley, Old
Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). A huffing wench i’ faith.
1630. Taylor, Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, that huffs and
snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde. Ibid.
One asked a huffing gallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his
chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry,
and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon
himselfe.
d. 1631. Donne, Satires, iv. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, v.,
158). To th’ huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.
1643. Randolph, Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1. Flowrd. Iniquity
aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach, huffe, puffe, and snuffe
at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.
1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,
huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.
1675. Wycherley, Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash
fop, by huffing so, Think to obtain the better terms of you.
1680. Dryden, Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look,
though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, you huff
the French.
d. 1680. Rochester, Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, viii., 239). This huffing honour domineers In breasts
when he alone has place.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused
and huffed as well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Huff. To huff and ding, to
bounce and swagger.
1690. The Pagan Prince. And the same threats and menaces of the
palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding
all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young
prince; give him leave to huff and ding for his living; words break
no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that
raises the dust.
1699. Robert Franck, Northern Memoirs (quoted in New Review, Aug.,
1893, p. 145). So huffed away.
1700. Mrs. Centlivre, Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards
cease to huff.
1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in
their frenzy, huff and threaten With what sad stripes we shall be
beaten.
1708. Prior, Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went
to Holland where they huff folk, T’other to vend his wares in
Suffolk.
1714. Newest Academy of Compliments. Pray neighbour, why d’ye look
awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; You huff, you pout, you
walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut and huff.
Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other as
huffing would be. Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leave huffing and
Cowards their Trembling.
1725. Swift, Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker will huff, And
twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.
d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’
(Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship began to
huff.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.