Meaning

noun a short light gust of air

noun a light inflated pastry or puff shell

noun exaggerated praise (as for promotional purposes)

originFrom Middle English puff, puf, from Old English pyf (“a blast of wind, puff”), from Proto-West Germanic *puf(f)- (“to blow, puff”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch puf (“puff, wind, fart”), Middle Low German puf, pof (“puff”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0