Pfft.

n.  an absurdist woman’s name.

<[Andy] Warhol himself says [the “pop girl of the year” is] either Ingrid Superstar (he won’t say her last name) or a girl named Mary who, he says, is changing her name to Pfft.  —Steven Henry Madoff, Pop Art: A Critical History.>

pfft.

n.  an expression of contempt or derision.

<He’s just another gutless politician scared of losing the bigot vote.  Pfft!  —Stephen Coonts, The Intruders.>

n.  the “weak, raspberry-like” call of the Calliope Hummingbird, “probably created by braking action of wings or tail” (Sheri Williamson, A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America).


n.  the hiss of “silly string” spraying from a can, as in the comic strip “PvP” by Scott R. Kurtz.


n.  the hiss of a garden sprinkler.

<As we pull over to the curb and hop out, a sprinkler near our feet starts up with a sudden pfft.  —Michelle Nijhuis, “Shadow Creatures,” The Best American Science Writing 2003.>

n.  the loud, short spit of a fighting cat.

<The constable’s hands suddenly found the furry warmth of Grimalkin.  “Pfft!  Miaow!  Pfft!”  Grimalkin hissed and spat and scratched.  —Marguerite Henry, King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian.>

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