poof, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

poof n.

also poofer, poove, pouf, pouffe

1. a homosexual.

1833		Session Papers of the Central Criminal Court 13 Apr. 378/2: Marchell began a conversation of his own accord, by saying there was gentleman who gave a great deal of money for boys — he said there was a gentleman in the City, too, that was one of these poofs, as he called them — neither I nor Wiggens said any thing to him to lead to these observations; I never heard the word poofs before.
1855		Yokel’s Preceptor 5: The increase of these monsters in the shape of men, commonly designated Margeries, Pooffs. [Ibid.] 6: Another fellow, called ‘Betsy H-’ who walks the Strand, Fleet-street, and St. Martin’s-court, is a most notorious and shameless poof .
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 110: POUF OR POUFTER, a sodomite or effeminate man.
1927		in M. Houlbrook Sun among Cities (2002) [police statement PC John Gavin] 181: They were both powdered and painted ... smelt strongly of perfume and spoke very effeminately. By their behaviour and appearance I believe them to be ‘West End Poofs’.
1931		‘English Und. Sl.’ in Variety 8 Apr. n.p.: Poof—Man who acts like a woman.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 79: Why you poor wet you couldn’t hurt nobody. You’re not a man. You’re a pouf.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 176: A meeting place for pouffs, ponces and prostitutes.
1951		D.W. Cory Homosexual in America 111: The British hoboes call the homosexual a pouf, but I have never heard this word in America.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: There’s toffs wiv toffee noses, and / Poofs in coffee ’ouses.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 56: You’re a little pouf.
1962		K. Williams Diaries 26 Feb. 186: We saw the film The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone [...] obviously about an old poof and not a woman at all.
1967		J. Orton Diaries (1986) 25 Feb. 92: In Piccadilly a rather slant-eyed and pissed (or drugged) poove sidled past me.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 97: Scott considered deodorants the trait of a poof.
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 192: We get the pouffes from the antique shops, but they’re decent chaps. I say to them, ‘Come on you bloody pouffes, drink up and piss off.’ They can take a joke.
1978		Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 117: Harry Wragg = ‘fag’, after a once-famous jockey, but fag in the sense of cigarette, not US faggot – for which the UK is pouf or poufter, nancy, fairy, etc.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 148: Everybody would have known that we had a pouf on the team.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 121: ‘There’s a couple of poofs over there keep trying to get on to me’.
1988		A. Hollinghurst Swimming-Pool Library (1998) 172: You can tell he’s a fuckin’ poof.
1992		D. Jarman letter 17 Jan. Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 70: The flat above has been squatted by a group of right-wing rowdies who hammer the floor and shout ‘fucking poof’ throughout the night.
1992		R.G. Barrett Davo’s Little Something 38: Gay. Happy. Merry. Call them what you like. They’re still poofs.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 95: You’re a load of poufs. [Ibid.] 277: The drunks [...] have gone, and so has the ghost of Winnie the Poof.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 275: ‘Look at is kilt!’ ‘The make-up! The poof!’.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 278: If Edward does turn out to be a raving poof [...] Try and sleep with your back to the wall.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 296: He popped poofs at Paramount, he cornholed cats at Columbia.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Schott’s Bridge’ in Knockemstiff 83: They kept feeding the old man new insults to throw at Duane: faggot, poofer, fudgepacker.
2011		ntnews.com.au 21 Mar. 🌐 So a bloke walks into an outback pub, orders a c**k-sucking cowboy and then someone calls him a poof.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 263: Junkies, dealers n poofs.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 418: The gay poof hands them over without a second thought.
2017		V. McDermid Insidious Intent (2018) 111: ‘What, you think I’m a poof or something?’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 87: ‘You’re disgusting! An effing poof! A pansy! [...] A bloody despicable poove!’.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 56: ‘The old poof [i.e. J. Edgar Hoover] loves Hollywood gossip’.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1969		Punch 29 Oct. 703: The white slave traffic, which is run for you by a gang of psychopathic poove murderers.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 7: It would be of no interest to those already corrupted by the sexual fantasies of poove novelists.

3. an effeminate man.

[1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant II 150/2: Pouf (theatrical) an epithet applied by the actors to a silly fellow, who imagines himself to be an actor].
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 140: ‘What a poof,’ I said softly to Kev. ‘Who’d like to work in a shop? Not me!’.
1971		J. Osborne Sun. Times 10 Oct. 42: After shaves are for poofs.
1980		Hepworth & Hindle Boozing out in Melbourne Pubs 15: There was a time [...] when to drink wine as an ordinary tipple in Melbourne Town was to be branded as an alcoholic derelict, a poof, a frog or woglike alien.
1999		Indep. Mag. 14 Aug. 6: It seems straight men are becoming poofs now as well. They are all into styles and clothes and scents.
2002		D. Flusfeder Gift 77: Oh sit down you great poof, said the film agent.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 217: Shut it, you clarty poof.

In derivatives

poofery (n.)

homosexuality.

2018

I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [37]: I wonder if he’s getting rammed, or doing the ramming [...] I suppose the benefits of poofery is that you get to mix it up.

poofish (adj.)

effeminate, pertaining to homosexuality.

1961

T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 10: ‘You don’t have to swear,’ he said in a poofish voice.

In compounds

poof-rorting (n.) (also poof-wroughting) [rort v.¹ (1)]

beating and robbing male prostitutes.

1966

Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.

In phrases

poof about (v.)

to act in an ostentatiously homosexual manner.

2004		posting at www.gamers-gateway.com 19 Aug. 🌐 You prefer poncy twits poofing about hugging each other and grabing each others arse every time they score a goal?
2004		posting at www.scrum.com 🌐 Why dont our Rose Boys try and score a try instead of poofing around with all those kicks.

poof up (v.)

(Polari) to embellish, to render effeminate.

2023

R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 34: [M]y own pouffed up chavvy bouffant.

put someone on the poof (v.)

(Aus. prison) to challenge, poss. physically, a fellow inmate’s masculinity.

2005

M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 15: I would have put anyone who was a member of a jail debating club ‘on the poof’, meaning I would have questioned their manhood in a most severe and vigorous manner.