Fluffed

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /flʌft/

Definitions

1. Created a soft, expanded texture by gently shaking or arranging something ; committed an error or failed to perform correctly
2. Caused an object to become airy and light in appearance or feel ; botched a task or produced an unsatisfactory result
3. Softened or loosened material to increase volume or softness ; made a blunder or mishandled a situation in some way

Etymology: Before it meant a botched performance, "fluff" was a noun for the soft, woolly down that drifts off fabric and animals, and the verb grew out of that fluffy stuff. The noun itself arrived in English from West Flemish "vluwe" as "floow" and related spellings, referring to woolly substance, down, nap, and lint. Its deeper ancestry is uncertain. One proposed route runs back through French "velu," meaning hairy or furry, to Latin "villus," shaggy hair, while others suggest a blend of "flue" and "puff," or simple imitation of a soft sound. Similar-sounding words for softness turn up across unrelated languages, including Japanese "fuwafuwa," Hungarian "puha," and Polish "puchaty." The sense of fixing something up by shaking it into a soft, airy shape is the original physical meaning, the kind of thing done to pillows and cushions. The sense of botching something came later, the image being that a performer who has fluffed a line has left a loose, messy tuft where a neat result should have been.

Synonyms: puffed, aerated, frothed, plumped, teased

Antonyms: flattened, compressed, deflated, smoothed, pressed