Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[agent|experiencer] WHIFF NP2[theme] (PP[location]) NP1[agent|experiencer WHIFF NP2[location] NP1[location] WHIFF NP2[theme]
Examples:
David Edwards wrote about a world where people ingested their food by smelling, or whiffing, it.
I was whiffing the frigid fumes of lemon extract.
He whiffed the wind, sniffing the briny out of one of the bow-window balconies.
Her expression seemed to say she had whiffed a very bad odor.
It was a scent she had whiffed only once before.
The air whiffed of pine and peat.
Discreetly, I whiffed the air for tequila or petroleum.
Mappings:
VerbNet: stalk-35.3
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.01
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 1
Commentary: Notes: may be used metaphorically Syntax includes: NP1[agent|cause] WHIFF NP2[theme] (PP[direction])
Examples:
The gust of air whiffed away the clouds.
One puff of action would have whiffed away his melancholy.
It must have whiffed up suddenly.
A spurt of smoke whiffed out from her quarter.
A new fragrant smoke whiffed up through the poles and tables.
Mappings:
VerbNet: NM
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.02
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 2
Commentary:
NOTE: may be used metaphorically. Syntax includes: NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF NP2[patient[animate]] NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF PP[theme]
Examples:
Chamberlain whiffed the first two Phillies hitters.
Cincy defenders had Lewis behind the line of scrimmage on third down, and once again whiffed.
Crane made two fouls, and then sent Chipper into real convulsions by whiffing at a high one.
John McCain whiffed his own chance to ask Obama about Ayers on live TV.
The commission whiffed on its duty to protect investors.
A White House spokesman started playing hardball with Bill O'Reilly and wound up whiffing big time.
Mappings:
VerbNet: NM
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.03
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 3
Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF NP2[theme] NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF PP[theme]
Examples:
The old man whiffed a pipe.
Roger de Tourneville was whiffing a cigar.
As usual, he was whiffing at a cigarette.
Mappings:
VerbNet: NM
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.04
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 4
Commentary: Syntax includes: NP1[agent[animate]] WHIFF NP2[theme]
Examples:
They whiffed out a protective prayer or two.
The stranger whiffed out a long, leisurely sort of indifferent and charitable puff.
Mappings:
VerbNet: exhale-40.1.3-1
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.05
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 5
Commentary: Usually used with secondary predication "out" Syntax includes: NP1[agent|cause] WHIFF NP2[patient] NP1[patient] WHIFF
Examples:
Its aura whiffed out like a candle.
The people were whiffed out by one breath of armistice!
He didn't want to end up being whiffed out in the lash of a dead star suddenly gone nova.
A beam of destruction whiffed out of existence the pilot, gunnery and the men before them.
He had simply whiffed out of existence like a soap bubble.
The torches were blazing away until they whiffed out.
I whiffed that candle out in like, a second.
Mappings:
VerbNet: NM
FrameNet: NP
PropBank: whiff.06