wuffle
verb1
To sniff or snort gently.
- Nosing deeply over that opinion, he suddenly cocked an indignant leg, back scratched with vigour and made a wuffling sound in his whiskers about what would happen to that scoundrel if he came misusing our rocks again.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 130:
- The black muzzle went 'wuffle, wuffle' over the sand and the man saw the short hairs bristle along its spine. Then the dog was called off and Giant Grum went up the bank.1942, “BB”, in The Litte Grey Men, Eyre & Spottiswoode:
4 more examples
- After their first upset the children's dog kept a dignified distance from him; and when in the narrow passages the cat strayed too close, he would wuffle irritably, like an old Scotsman clearing his throat.1995, Colin Greenland, Seasons of Plenty, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 247:
- "Ma'am, we are doing what we can," Barksdale repeated stolidly. He took a deep breath, then let it wuffle out through his thick gray mustache.2001, Harry Turtledove, The Great War: Breakthroughs, Del Ray, →ISBN, page 138:
- Beyond was a tangle of undergrowth fringing a pocket of rainforest. It seemed a place where a dog could wuffle to his heart's content.2004, Wendy Jane Evans, The Diggings Are Silent, Interactive Press, →ISBN, page 77:
- I could stand with my hands resting on the upper rail of the playpen and reach out to touch Rufus, the red setter, whose principal concern was evidently to entertain me. He would wuffle and snuggle from just outside, wagging his feathery tail in appreciation of his tiny young friend's attentions.2009, Christopher J. Wortham, Fragments… From Two Lives on Three Continents, Eloquent Books, →ISBN, page 18: