whiff

7 definitions • 12 examples

a slight smell, carried on a current of air:

catch/get a whiff of He leaned towards me and I caught/got a whiff of garlic.

whiff of During the first few months of pregnancy the slightest whiff of food cooking made my stomach turn.

a slight sign of something:

They regularly hold elections without a whiff of corruption or violence.

to have an unpleasant smell :

The whole house is beginning to whiff a bit.

The room whiffed of gas.

to try to hit a ball, puck, or person and miss completely :

He took a wild swing and whiffed badly.

In baseball, if a pitcher whiffs a batter, they cause them to strike out (= to lose their turn because they have failed three times to hit the ball successfully):

Jordan whiffed Sims with a high fastball.

He whiffed eight batters in six innings.

to fail to do something you have tried to do:

He'd whiffed the SATs the first time he took them.

I tried to make the tackle but I completely whiffed.

a smell that you notice briefly:

I got a whiff of perfume as she walked by.

fig. A whiff of scandal was in the air.