From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhuff and puffhuff and puff informala) BREATHEto breathe out in a noisy way, especially when you do something that involves a lot of physical effort He was huffing and puffing by the time he got to the top. b) to show clearly that you strongly disagree with or are annoyed about something After a lot of huffing and puffing, he eventually gave in to our request. → huff
Examples from the Corpus
huff and puff• It was a huffing and puffing.• A couple of pudgy joggers were huffing and puffing along the path.• Now there's to be a schools painting competition about the bulldozers that can huff and puff and pull the house down.• But however the warning was given, the board, huff and puff as it might, will have to pay attention.• Brian, furious, would huff and puff as Mazzin unceremoniously threw him back down on his bed.• He huffed and puffed-but failed to shake the growing edifice of evidence stacked up against him.• After all their huffing and puffing, every incumbent was desperate to claim some achievement.• Before long he was huffing and puffing, his dark neck thrust out at a sharp angle.• He ascends, huffing and puffing, stopping at each landing. 