1
general::
Make noisy, empty threats; bluster. For example, You can huff and puff about storm warnings all you like, but we'll believe it when we see it. This expression uses two words of 16th-century origin, huff, meaning "to emit puffs of breath in anger," and puff, meaning "to blow in short gusts," and figuratively, "to inflate" or "make conceited.'' They were combined in the familiar nursery tale, "The Three Little Pigs," where the wicked wolf warns, "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down"; rhyme has helped these idioms survive.
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
Phrase(s): huff and puff
Fig. to breathe very hard; to pant as one exerts effort. • John came up the stairs huffing and puffing. • He huffed and puffed and finally got up the steep hill.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs