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phut

British

/ fʌt /

noun

a representation of a muffled explosive sound

"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

adverb

to break down or collapse

"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

Etymology

Origin of phut

C19: of imitative origin

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Just after Barney whispered, "five minutes gone" there was an audible "phut" and the link went down.

From BBC • May 21, 2011

Big bang goes phut as bird drops baguette into Cern machinery 4.

From The Guardian • Mar. 21, 2010

Then he ran over to another machine, a small shiny affair that kept going phut-phut-phut-phut-phut, and every time it went phut, a large green marble dropped out of it into a basket on the floor.

From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl

Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

The engine kept on with its rapid "phut, phut, phut" steadily, but the air-ship was sinking much more rapidly than it should.

From Stories of Inventors The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers by Doubleday, Russell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023