Dictionary

wafture en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɑf.t͡ʃɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˈwɒf.t͡ʃə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From waft + -ure.

Meanings

1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Something that is wafted, such as a smell or sound.
   • lower roofs, from which, as from hanging gardens, floated waftures sweet as the perfumed airs of the Indian isles 1873, Lew Wallace, chapter 8, in The Fair God, Boston: James R. Osgood, page 253:
   • It is doubtful, however, if she would have allowed quite so deep a wafture of lamentation to have passed her lips had she been alone. 1936, John Cowper Powys, chapter 9, in Maiden Castle, Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, published 2001, page 416:
   • and sniff at your waftures / to analyze your lust / and smell the pheromones of everyone you kissed, 2016, Robert Kelly, “XO”, in Opening the Seals, Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia, page 154:
   • Stray waftures of invisible gases bit his eyes and made them sting. 1911, Jack London, “The Seed of McCoy”, in South Sea Tales, New York: Macmillan, page 267:
2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) The act of wafting something.
   • The trees […] smile and nod and chatter, / Spreading their skirts most graciously, / Gesturing gayly with each wafture of the breeze. 1922, Angela Morgan, “Afternoon Tea”, in Because of Beauty, New York: Dodd, Mead, page 105:
   • 1785, Henry Boyd (translator), Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Dublin: P. Byrne, Canto 1, p. 198, Then those that sing amid the purging flame, / Inspir’d by ling’ring hope at last to claim / A tardy wafture to the happy shore.
   • […] the gentle Thames […] landed me, in the wafture of a placid wave or two, alone, safe and inglorious, somewhere at the foot of Lambeth palace. 1821 October, Charles Lamb, “Witches and Other Night-Fears”, in The London Magazine, volume 4, number 22, page 387:
   • […] you answer’d not, / But, with an angry wafture of your hand, / Gave sign for me to leave you: c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1:

Forms

Synonyms

puff · gust · wave