fart

Etymology

From Middle English ferten, farten, from Old English feortan, from Proto-Germanic *fertaną, from Proto-Indo-European *perd-. The noun is from Middle English fert, fart, from the verb.

verb

1. (vulgar, impolite, intransitive) To emit digestive gases from the anus; to flatulate.
   I fart with twenty ladies by; / They call me beast; and what care I? 1728, Jonathan Swift, A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy
2. (colloquial, vulgar, intransitive, usually as "fart around") To waste time with idle and inconsequential tasks; to go about one's activities in a lackadaisical manner; to be lazy or over-relaxed in one's manner or bearing.
3. (figurative, transitive) To emit (fumes, gases, etc.).
   Above his head the funnel farted black soot into the sky. 1988, Peter Carey, chapter 95, in Oscar and Lucinda, London: Faber and Faber, published 1989, page 457
   We’ve been stuck behind a Ford Escort farting black smoke for ten minutes. 2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, New York: Riverhead Books, page 139

noun

1. (informal, vulgar) An emission of digestive gases from the anus; a flatus.
   I think I heard a fart. Was it you, Nigel?
   Silent farts are often the smelliest.
   This Nicholas anon leet flee a fart, As greet as it had been a thonder-dent, That with the strook he was almost y-blent; And he was redy with his iren hoot, And Nicholas amidde the ers he smoot. This Nicholas immediately let fly a fart As great as if it had been a thunder-bolt, So that with the stroke he was almost blinded; And he was ready with his hot iron, And he smote Nicholas in the middle of the ass. late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Miller's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 3806-3810
2. (colloquial, impolite, derogatory) An irritating person; a fool.
3. (colloquial, impolite, derogatory, potentially offensive) (usually as "old fart") An elderly person; especially one perceived to hold old-fashioned views.