waft

/wɑft/

/wɒft/

Other forms: wafted; wafting; wafts

When your grandmother cooks her famous spaghetti sauce, many wonderful smells may waft from the kitchen. In other words, the air will gently carry this familiar aroma throughout the house.

Though the verb waft usually involves movement through air, it has watery roots. A "wafter" was a convoy ship in the 16th century, and these words may have derived from the similar looking wave. Waft can refer to scents, sounds, and even smoke. So, if your grandmother’s sauce begins to burn, smoke could waft from the kitchen as well.

Definitions of waft

1. noun

   a long flag; often tapering
   synonyms: pennant, pennon, streamer

   types:

   pennoncel, pennoncelle, penoncel

   a small pennant borne on a lance

   type of:

   flag

   emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
2. verb

   be driven or carried along, as by the air
   “Sounds wafted into the room”

   type of:

   be adrift, blow, drift, float

   be in motion due to some air or water current
3. verb

   blow gently
   “A breeze wafted through the door”

   type of:

   blow

   be blowing or storming