waft

[ waft, wahft ]
See synonyms for waft on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to carry lightly and smoothly through the air or over water: The gentle breeze wafted the sound of music to our ears.

  2. to send or convey lightly, as if in flight: The actress wafted kisses to her admirers in the audience.

  1. Obsolete. to signal to, summon, or direct by waving.

verb (used without object)
  1. to float or be carried, especially through the air: The sound wafted on the breeze. The music wafted across the lake.

noun
  1. a sound, odor, etc., faintly perceived: a waft of perfume.

  2. a wafting movement; light current or gust: a waft of air.

  1. the act of wafting.

  2. Also waif. Nautical. a signal given by waving a flag.

Origin of waft

1
1535–45; back formation from late Middle English waughter armed escort vessel <Dutch or Low German wachter watchman; in some senses confused with waff

Other words from waft

  • wafter, noun
  • un·waft·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use waft in a sentence

  • The air was keen and scented, wafting the smell of the wooded islands that hung about us in the darkening air.

    Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon Blackwood
  • A roll of a drum and the skirl of a fife came wafting across the valley on the April breeze.

    Private Peat | Harold R. Peat
  • Good heavens, Michael, what Piccadilly breezes are you wafting into my respectable and sacerdotal apartment?

    Sinister Street, vol. 1 | Compton Mackenzie
  • And the sailing ships, as if cut out of frailest pearl translucency, were wafting away towards Naples.

    Sea and Sardinia | D. H. Lawrence
  • I asked, as a delicious breeze from the buffet came wafting by "like a steam of rich distilled perfumes."

    In the Days of My Youth | Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards

British Dictionary definitions for waft

waft

/ (wɑːft, wɒft) /


verb
  1. to carry or be carried gently on or as if on the air or water

noun
  1. the act or an instance of wafting

  2. something, such as a scent, carried on the air

  1. a wafting motion

  2. Also called: waif nautical (formerly) a signal flag hoisted furled to signify various messages depending on where it was flown

Origin of waft

1
C16 (in obsolete sense: to convey by ship): back formation from C15 wafter a convoy vessel, from Middle Dutch wachter guard, from wachten to guard; influenced by waff

Derived forms of waft

  • waftage, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012