English▸ verb (with reference to a scent, sound, etc.) pass or cause to pass gently through the air:
[no object, with adverbial of direction] the smell of stale fat wafted out from the cafe
[with object and adverbial of direction] each breeze would waft pollen round the house.
▪ [no object, with adverbial of direction] move with a gliding motion:
models wafted down the catwalk in filmy organza skirts.
▸ noun
1 a gentle movement of air.
▪ a scent carried in the air:
from the kitchen comes a waft of roasting meat.
2 Nautical historical (also weft) a knotted ensign, garment, etc. displayed by a ship as a signal.
[perhaps related to Scots and northern English waff ‘a signal, waving of something in the hand’, a variant of wave]
– ORIGIN early 16th century (in the sense ‘escort a ship’): back-formation from obsolete wafter (used only by opponents of the practice) ‘armed convoy vessel’, from Low German, Dutch wachter, from wachten ‘to guard’. A sense ‘convey by water’ gave rise to the current use of the verb.