waft Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a long flag; often tapering
    pennon; streamer; pennant.
  2. verb be driven or carried along, as by the air
    • Sounds wafted into the room
  3. verb blow gently
    • A breeze wafted through the door

WordNet


Waft transitive verb
Etymology
Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Wafted; present participle & verbal noun Wafting
Definitions
  1. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. Obs.
    But soft: who wafts us yonder? Shak.
  2. To cause to move or go in a wavy manner, or by the impulse of waves, as of water or air; to bear along on a buoyant medium; as, a balloon was wafted over the channel.
    A gentle wafting to immortal life. Milton.
    Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole. Pope.
  3. To cause to float; to keep from sinking; to buoy. Obs. Sir T. Browne. ✍ This verb is regular; but waft was formerly somtimes used, as by Shakespeare, instead of wafted.
Waft intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
    And now the shouts waft near the citadel. Dryden.
Waft noun
Definitions
  1. A wave or current of wind. "Everywaft of the air." Longfellow.
    In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains In one wide waft. Thomson.
  2. A signal made by waving something, as a flag, in the air.
  3. An unpleasant flavor. Obs.
  4. (Naut.) A knot, or stop, in the middle of a flag. Written also wheft. ✍ A flag with a waft in it, when hoisted at the staff, or half way to the gaff, means, a man overboard; at the peak, a desire to communicate; at the masthead, "Recall boats."

Webster 1913