[syn: cetacean, cetacean mammal, blower]
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.
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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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Blower \Blow"er\, n.
1. One who, or that which, blows.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mech.) A device for producing a current of air; as:
(a) A metal plate temporarily placed before the upper part
of a grate or open fire.
(b) A machine for producing an artificial blast or current
of air by pressure, as for increasing the draft of a
furnace, ventilating a building or shaft, cleansing
gram, etc.
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3. A blowing out or excessive discharge of gas from a hole or
fissure in a mine.
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4. The whale; -- so called by seamen, from the circumstance
of its spouting up a column of water.
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5. (Zool.) A small fish of the Atlantic coast (Tetrodon
turgidus); the puffer.
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6. A braggart, or loud talker. [Slang] --Bartlett.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
blower
n 1: a device that produces a current of air
2: a fan run by an electric motor [syn: electric fan,
blower]
3: large aquatic carnivorous mammal with fin-like forelimbs no
hind limbs, including: whales; dolphins; porpoises; narwhals
[syn: cetacean, cetacean mammal, blower]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "blower":
Captain Bobadil, Gascon, Texan, aerator, air conditioner,
air cooler, air filter, air passage, bellows, big mouth, blowgun,
blowhard, blowpipe, blowtube, blusterer, boaster, brag,
braggadocio, braggart, cooling system, electric fan, exhaust fan,
fan, fanfaron, flabellum, gasbag, gasconader, hector,
hot-air artist, miles gloriosus, punkah, rodomontade,
thermantidote, ventilator, windbag, windcatcher, windjammer,
windsail, windscoop, windy