ˈbuffeting, vbl. n.
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb buffet.
| c 1240 Lofsong in Cott. Hom. 207 Ich bide þe..bi his spotlunge, and bufetunge. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi. 5 In spittynge, buffetynge & pungynge with þe thornes. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxxviii. 3 Sharp temptations and strong buffetings of Satan. 1788 Burns Let. R. Ainslie 3 Mar., I have been..under much buffetting of the wicked one. 1826 Scott Woodst. viii. 1873 Black Pr. Thule v. 74 The buffetings of wind and rain. |
2. Aeronaut. Irregular oscillation, caused by air eddies, of any part of an aircraft.
| 1931 Frazer & Duncan in Aeronaut. Res. Committee Rep. & Mem. No. 1360 Jan. 84 The term ‘buffeting’ is here used to denote an irregular, and more or less severe, oscillatory movement of the organs of the tail unit. 1961 C. B. Smith Testing Time x. 168 The ‘buffeting’ was related to a basic aerodynamic problem, the turbulence which was bound to occur when an aircraft not suitably streamlined attained to a speed approaching the speed of sound. |