[syn: puffer, pufferfish, blowfish, globefish]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Puffer \Puff"er\, n.
1. One who puffs; one who praises with noisy or extravagant
commendation.
[1913 Webster]
2. One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold
at suction to bid up the price; a by-bidder. --Bouvier.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Zool.)
(a) Any plectognath fish which inflates its body, as the
species of Tetrodon and Diodon of the family
Tetraodontidae; -- called also blower,
puff-fish, swellfish, and globefish. They are
highly poisonous due to the presence of glands
containing a potent toxin, tetrodotoxin.
Nevertheless they are eaten as a delicacy in Japan,
being prepared by specially licensed chefs who remove
the poison glands.
(b) The common, or harbor, porpoise.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Dyeing) A kier.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
puffer
n 1: delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve
poison in ovaries and liver [syn: blowfish, sea squab,
puffer, pufferfish]
2: any of numerous marine fishes whose elongated spiny body can
inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several
species contain a potent nerve poison; closely related to
spiny puffers [syn: puffer, pufferfish, blowfish,
globefish]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PUFFER, commerce, contracts. A person employed by the owner of property
which is sold at auction to bid it up, who does so accordingly, for the
purpose of raising the price upon bona fide bidders.
2. This is a fraud which at the choice of the purchaser invalidates the
sale. 5 Madd. R. 37, 440; 3 Madd. R. 112; 12 Ves. 483; l Fonb. Eq. 227, n; 2
Kent, Com. 423; 11 Serg. & Rawle, 86; Cowp. 395; 3 Ves. jun. 628; 6 T. R.
642; 2 Bro. C. C. 326; 3 T. R. 93, 95; 1 P. A. Browne, Rep. 346; 2 Hayw. R.
328; Sugd. Vend. 16; 4 Harr. & McH. 282; 2 Dev. 126; 2 Const. Rep. 821;. 3
Marsh. 526.