▪ I. † buff, n.1 Obs.
exc. in blind man's buff. Forms: 5–8 buffe, 6 buf, 6– buff.
[perh. a. OF. bufe, buffe, a blow; cf. buffet n.1]
A blow, stroke, buffet. Buff and counterbuff seem to have been technical terms in fencing or pugilism.
| c 1420 Avow. Arth. iv, Quo durst abide him a buffe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 291/4 He gaf to her in Japyng a buffe. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 17 The Sarazin, sore daunted with the buffe. 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. Wks. 1738 I. 38 Where they give the Romanists one buff, they receive two counterbuffs. |
2. To this perhaps belongs the phrase to stand buff: to stand firm, not to flinch; to endure.
| a 1680 Butler Hudibras's Epitaph (R.) For the good old cause stood buff 'Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff. 1698 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife v. v, The marriage-knot..may stand buff a long, long time. 1701 Collier M. Anton. (1726) 219 To stand buff against danger and death. 1732 Fielding Miser ii. i, I must even stand buff, and outface him. 1827 Scott Diary in Lockhart (1839) IX. 146 If he does [turn on me]..it is best to stand buff to him. |
▪ II. buff, n.2
(bʌf)
Also 6–7 buffe.
[app. ad. F. buffle buffalo; cf. buffle.]
I. The animal.
† 1. a. A buffalo, or other large species of wild ox.
| 1552 Huloet, Buffe, bugle, or wylde oxe, bubalus. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 137 Bubale, called of the common people Buffes, of Plinie Bisonte. 1582 D. Ingram Narrat. in Arb. Eng. Garner V. 256 Buffes, which are beasts as big as two oxen. 1621 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Deut. xiv. 5 The Buffe, Buffel, or Wilde-oxe. a 1674 Milton Hist. Mosc. i. Wks. (1847) 569/1 Huge and desert Woods of Fir, abounding with black Wolves, Bears, Buffs. 1706 Phillips, Buff, Buffle or Buffalo, a wild Beast. |
† b. Used to render Pliny's tarandus, now usually identified with the reindeer. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) A Buffe is called in Greek Tarandus..When he is hunted or feared, he changeth his hew into whatsoever thing he seeth. 1617 Minsheu Ductor in Ling. 56 A Buffe, so called because it has some likeness with the Buffle..L. Tarandus. |
II. Buff-skin, leather, and its uses.
† 2. a. (More fully buff-leather): properly, leather made of buffalo hide; but usually applied to a very stout kind of leather made of ox-hide, dressed with oil, and having a characteristic fuzzy surface, and a dull whitish-yellow colour.
| 1580 Baret Alv. B 1447 Couerings of saddles made of buffe leather. 1581 Jrnls. Ho. Commons 130 The Bill touching the Making of Spanish Leather and Buff within this Realm. 1613 Voy. Guiana in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 190 The hide [of the Sea-cow]..will make good buff. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 43 ¶10 To have Flea'd the Pict, and made Buff of his Skin. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 61 Losh, or buff-leather, drest in oil, fit for the use of the army. |
b. Military attire (for which buff was formerly much used); a military coat made of buff; = buff-coat. Also the dress of sergeants and catch-poles. Hence, to wear buff, be in buff.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. ii. 45 But is in a suite of buffe which rested him. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iv. 42 If Martius in boystrous buffes be drest. 1635 Shirley Coronat. iii. 306 To sell your glorious buffes to buy fine pumps. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal vi. 419 With men of Buffe and Feather [cumque paludatis Ducibus]. 1701 Collier M. Anton. (1726) Life 116 Never suffer'd to wear Buff in Italy. 1823 Scott Peveril (1865) 9 Churchmen, Presbyterians, and all, are in buff and bandoleer for King Charles. 1826 ― Woodst. (1832) 177 Strangled on the pulpit stairs by this man of buff and Belial. |
3. colloq. The bare skin. in the buff: naked.
| [1602 Dekker Satirom. (D.) I go in stag, in buff.] 1654 Chapman Rev. for Hon. i. i, For accoutrements you wear the buff. 1749 H. Fitzcotton Homer i. 38 If you perplex me with your stuff—All that are here shan't save your buff. 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 606 He had no change [of linen], consequently he slept in buff. 1872 C. King Sierra Nev. viii. 176 Stripping ourselves to the buff, we hung up our steaming clothes. 1956 V. Jenkins Lions Rampant i. 17 They went swimming, sunbathed, did their training stripped to the buff. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 153 The wizened fellow..observed us undressing down to the buff. 1969 Rolling Stone 28 June 4/1 The girls call themselves the Groupies and claim they recorded their song in the buff. |
4. = buff-stick or buff-wheel: see 9.
| 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 292 A wheel similar to the glazer..covered with..buff leather, whence its name. These buffs and glazers, etc. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 37 Soldier's old belts make very good buffs..Sticks coated with emery paper are also called buffs. |
III. The colour, and things so coloured. [buff a., used as n.]
5. a. Buff colour; a dull light yellow. blue and buff were formerly the colours of the Whig party.
| 1788 Dibdin Musical Tour xcvi. 394 The administration is a colour in grain, and will stand when buff and blue shall have entirely flown off. 1794 Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxiv. 220 [The water melon's] color is..partly a very pale buff. 1818 Byron Juan Ded. xvii, I still retain my ‘buff and blue’. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 349/2 A gradation of buffs and reds. Mod. The Edinburgh Review—the venerable blue-and-buff. |
b. In full Buff Cochin, a variety of the Cochin fowl, in which both cock and hen are of a uniform buff colour.
| 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 173 Our old friends, the Cochins, mustered pretty strong,..the buffs..were very good. 1873 L. Wright Bk. Poultry 210 We have several shades in the Buff Cochin cock. Ibid. 213 The earliest and greatest breeders of Buff Cochins. 1899 Norris-Elye Brahmas & Cochins 61 Evenness of colour is perhaps the greatest difficulty in breeding..buff Cochins. |
6. a. the Buffs: a popular name given, from the former colour of their facings (see buff a.), to the old 3rd regiment of the line in the British army (now the East Kent Regiment; royal assent was given to the restoration of buff facings to the East Kent Regiment on 19 August 1890). Similarly the old 78th regiment (now 2nd Battalion of Seaforth Highlanders) are called the Rossshire Buffs.
| 1806 Times 10 Jan. The band of the Old Buffs playing Rule Britannia, drums muffled. 1838 Hist. Record 3rd Regim. Foot 157 The Men's Coats were lined and faced with buff, they also wore buff waistcoats, buff breeches and buff stockings, and were emphatically styled the Buffs. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 295. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 319/1 He entered the Buffs in 1817. |
b. ‘An enthusiast about going to fires’ (Webster 1934); so called from the buff uniforms worn by volunteer firemen in New York City in former times. Hence gen., an enthusiast or specialist. Chiefly N. Amer. colloq.
| 1903 N.Y. Sun 4 Feb. iv. 2/1 The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a predominant characteristic. 1907 A. M. Downes Fire Fighters & Pets xiii. 159 The ‘buff’ is a private citizen who is a follower, friend, and devoted admirer of the firemen. 1931 Lavine Third Degree vi. 62 A dentist, known to many cops as a police buff (a person who likes to associate with members of the department and in exchange for having the run of the station house does various courtesies for the police). 1955 Sci. Amer. Aug. 88/3 No choo-choo buff can be without Sampson. 1962 Listener 1 Nov. 704/2 A neighbour of mine who is a hi-fi buff. 1963 Economist 20 July 244/2 The ‘Pugwash’ meetings between western and Russian scientists and other disarmament buffs. 1966 New Yorker 17 Sept. 130 For ballet buffs, Tuesday evening of last week was a great occasion. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 37 Sports buffs will enjoy many diversions, with bicycling and camping..heading the list. |
7. Pathol. = buffy coat.
| 1739 Huxham Fevers (1750) 36 Blood..drawn off in high inflammatory Fevers..appears covered..with a thick glutinous coat, or Buff. 1782 Daniel in Med. Commun. I. 22 note, The blood was covered with a buff. 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 420/2 Louis found the blood covered by a firm thick buff at each bleeding in..cases of fatal peripneumony. 1880 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., Inflammatory Buff, the buffy coat of coagulated blood. |
IV. attrib. and comb.
8. Obvious: as buff accoutrements, buff belt; buff-hide, buff-skin; † buff-hard adj.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 177 Good store of Buffe Hides. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 157 His [the Rhinoceros'] more then buffe-hard skin. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 81 The Commodities of East-land, and thereabouts..Cables, Canuas, Buffe-hides. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 306 His Buff Doublet, larded o'er with Fat Of slaughter'd Brutes. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Buff, The skin of the buffalo being dressed in oil..makes..buff-skin. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. v. 181 A cup, furnished at bottom with a piece of buff-skin. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. XI. 334 Sets of buff accoutrements for the soldiers. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vii. 53 The military classes in those old times, whose buff-belts [and] complicated chains..have been bepainted in modern Romance. |
9. Special comb.: buff-jerkin, a military jerkin of buff-leather; also attrib.; buff-stick, buff-wheel, a stick or wheel, covered with buff-leather or other soft material, used in polishing metal; † buff-stop, a stop on a harpsichord or spinet which produces a muffled tone by applying pieces of leather to the strings. See also buff-coat.
| a 1659 Cleveland May Day xiv, The *buff-fac'd Sons of War. |
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 49 Is not a *Buffe Ierkin a most sweet robe of durance? 1625 Fletcher Elder Bro. v. i, Among provant swords, and buff-jerkin men. 1727 Swift Gulliver i. i. 24, I had on me a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. |
| 1881 Greener Gun 250 The..gun is then buffed over with a leather *buff stick. |
| a 1819 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Wks. (1830) 122 (D.) Like the *buff-stop on harpsichords or spinnets—Muffling their pretty little tuneful throats. 1880 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 691 A ‘buff’-stop of small pieces of leather, brought into contact with the strings, damping the tone. |
▪ III. buff, n.3
var. of buffe.
▪ IV. † buff, n.4 Obs. colloq.
[Origin uncertain: see quot. 1725, and cf. buffer n.4]
Fellow, ‘buffer’.
| 1708–15 Kersey, Buff..a dull Sot, or dronish Fellow. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 8 3/2 Tell me Grave Buffs, Partly Gods, partly Men. 1725 New Cant. Dict. s.v., Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in familiar Salutation: as, How dost do, my Buff? 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. iv. 15 Mayhap old buff has left my kinsman here his heir. 1764 Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) II. 420 You seem afraid these buffs will flinch. |
▪ V. buff, n.5 and int.
(bʌf)
[? Onomatopœic. Cf. bufe. Partly perhaps imitating a dog's bark (cf. bough v., baff); partly an instinctive exclamation of contempt.]
A. as int. In phrases a. † to say neither buff nor baff, not to say buff to a wolf's shadow (obs.). b. to say (or know) neither buff nor stye (Sc.): i.e. neither one thing nor another, nothing at all.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard K ij b, He wyste not what to saye buff ne baff. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 11 b, A certain persone, beeyng of him bidden good speede, saied to hym again neither buff ne baff. 1581 N. Burne Disput. 128 b (Jam.) Johann Kmnox ansuerit maist resolutlie, buf, baf, man. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1860) 25 These toong-tide Curs that cannot barke, nor say buffe to a woulfes shadow. ? a 1750 Jacobite Relics I. 80 (Jam.) Who knew not what was right or wrong, And neither buff nor sty, sir. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xii, ‘What say you to that?’..‘I say neither buff nor stye to it’. |
B. n. Sc. (Perh. not connected with the prec.) ‘Nonsense, foolish talk’ (Jamieson).
| 1721 Ramsay Addr. Town Council Edinb. 23 It blather'd buff before them a', And aftentimes turn'd doited. 1739 A. Nicol Poems 84 (Jam.) Nae great ferly tho' it be Plain buff..I'm no book-lear'd. 1790 Shirref Poems 338 (Jam.) It only gi'es him pain To read sic buff. 1813 W. Beattie Poems (1871) Yule Feast 1 Read: but should you think it buff, Throw't out o' sight. |
▪ VI. buff, n.6
(bʌf)
A name given to the blindfold player in the game of blind-man's buff. shadow buff: a modern game in which one player has to guess the identity of the other players from seeing only their shadows.
| 1647 Fanshawe Pastor Fido (1676) 78 Behold the Buff [orig. ecco la cieca]. 1879 Hoffmann Drawing-r. Amusem. 9 Shadow Buff is a game of greater originality. The company now pass in succession before the light but behind Buff. |
▪ VII. buff, n.7
1. (With capital initial.) Short for buffalo n. 1 e. colloq.
| 1879 The Buffalo 16 Jan. 3/3 The great scheme of a technical university now being taken up by the City companies, was first started by Buffs. 1888 [see buffalo n. 1 e]. 1897 Buffalo World Sept. 3/2 It should..be the aim of every loyal Buff..to show his desire to help on the cause for which we are fighting, viz. Progress and the Brotherhood of man. 1909 Daily Chron. 31 July 4/5 A..belief..that the ‘Buffs’, as it is generally called, originated at the Harp Tavern, in Russell-street, Drury-lane, in 1822. |
2. Short for buffalo n. senses 1 a to d. colloq.
| 1583 G. Peckham True Reporte in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 175 He and his company did finde in one cottage aboue two hundred and fortie hides..and with this agreeth Dauid Ingram, and describeth that beast at large, supposing it to be a certaine kinde of Buffe. 1665 P. E. Radisson Voyages (1885) 212 They have very handsome shoose laced very thick all over w{supt}{suph} a peece sowen att the side of y⊇ heele, w{supc}{suph} was of a haire of Buff. 1884 Bismarck Tribune Aug., The ball struck the unsuspecting animal... But the old ‘buff’ took the fling as an insult. 1935 Hemingway Green Hills of Africa (1936) ii. iii. 98 I'd rather get another buff than rhino. Ibid. 113 Where the rhinos and the buff had come out of the reeds. 1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo ii. 24 When the buff was nearly up with him, the boy took off his hat and put it over the animal's eyes. |
▪ VIII. buff, a.
(bʌf)
[f. buff n.2 2.]
1. Of the nature or appearance of buff leather.
| a 1695 Marquis of Halifax On C'tess Dowager of ― (R.) This goodly goose..did overload Her bald buff forehead with a high commode. |
b. fig. (from buff n.2 3). Naked, unrefined.
| 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 29 (1794) I. 410 On that plain buff principle of old English hospitality. |
2. Of the colour of buff leather; a light brownish yellow.
(Early quots. are doubtful, and may mean the material.)
| 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 69 note, The dress is that of a Cavalier about the time of the civil war, buff with blue ribbands. 1791 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to Ass Wks. 1812 II. 462 Buff breeches too have crown'd a proud proud day. 1804 Med. & Phys. Jrnl. XII. 512 Pileus brown buff, darker in the centre. 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 419/2 The buffed coat..is generally..of a light yellow or buff colour. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. I. 108 The..old-fashioned Staffordshire tea service..blue flowers on a buff ground. |
3. Comb., as buff-backed, buff-colour, buff-coloured, buff-orange, buff-washed, buff-yellow; buff-tip, a species of moth (see quot.).
| 1884 J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 264 The pretty little *buff-backed heron. |
| 1794 Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxiv. 220 The musk [melon]..is ribbed, *buff color, orange and green. |
| 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2106/4 A..Red Coat..with a *Buff-colour'd lining. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 282 From dead plants [Fucaceæ] cold fresh-water extracts a buff-coloured substance. |
| 1882 Garden 2 Sept. 202/1 A charming hardy Orchid..It is a *buff-orange colour. |
| 1836 Duncan Brit. Moths 187 Pygæra Bucephala..named the *Buff-tip Moth, on account of a large patch of that colour on the apex of the anterior wings. |
| 1883 M. E. Braddon Gold. Calf xii. 150 The walls plastered, and white-washed, or *buff-washed. |
| 1882 Garden 5 Aug. 110/1 Seedling *buff-yellow Carnation. |
4. Substantival uses of this adj. are for convenience treated under buff n.2 III.
▪ IX. † buff, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
[prob. onomatopœic: cf. puff v., and buff n.1, also F. bouffer in its various senses, and OF. buffer ‘souffleter’ (Godef.). Sense 1 has app. no connexion with 3, exc. as both may arise in different ways from some of the characteristics of a broad puff of wind, and its associated sound.]
Hence ˈbuffing vbl. n., and ppl. a.
1. intr. a. To speak with obstructed and explosive utterance, to stutter. b. To explode or burst into a laugh, or the like.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 414 Of speche hastyf, Boffyng, & mest wanne he were in wraþþe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. viii. (1495) 55 As I maye, though it be stamerynge and buffynge. 1611 Cotgr., Esclaffer, to buff, or burst, out into a laughter. Mod. Sc. He buft out into a laugh. |
2. trans. To cause to burst out by sudden force.
| a 1637 B. Jonson Loves Welc. at Welbeck (R.) A shock To have buff'd out the blood From ought but a block. |
3. intr. To act and sound as a soft inflated substance does when struck, or as the body does which strikes it.
| a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xi, He hit him on the wame a wap It buft lyk ony bledder. 1881 Leicestersh. Words (E.D.S.) s.v., When an axe or hatchet strikes without cutting, which is sometimes the case..with unsound wood, it is said to ‘buff’. |
4. intr. and trans. To strike a soft inflated body (with the characteristic effect and sound).
| 1600 F. Walker Sp. Mandeville 64 b, The furious buffing together of windes, when they meete. 1785 Burns Twa Herds xiii, A chiel wha'll soundly buff our beef. |
▪ X. † buff, v.2 Sc. Obs.
[cf. F. bouffer.]
trans. ? To puff out. Hence buft ppl. a.
| 1572 Lament. Lady Scotl. in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 252 Buft brawlit hois, coit, dowblet, sark and scho. 1573 Sege Edinb. Castel ibid. II. 294 That socht na tailzeours for to bufe thair breiks. |
▪ XI. buff, v.3
[f. buff n.2]
1. trans. a. To polish with a buff (frequent colloq. in the metal trades). b. To impart the velvety surface usual in buff leather for belts, etc.
| 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 284/2 Sand-paper..‘buffs’ the grain of the leather, leaving it white and velvety. |
2. To impart a buff colour to.
| 1897 Rothwell Textile Fabrics 237 The pieces are to be ‘buffed’ or ‘slop-padded’ with substantive dyestuffs in solutions containing soap. |
▪ XII. buff, v.4 slang.
(bʌf)
[cf. buffer n.6]
To swear to.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them. 1865 Daily Tel. 27 Feb. 6/1 What robberies are you going to ‘buff’ to me..meaning ‘to charge me with, or accuse me of’. 1869 Morning Star, 3 June, They are going to send some one to ‘buff’ (own) it. |
▪ XIII. buff, v.5 nonce-wd.
[Two formations: a. f. buff in blindman's buff; b. suggested by phrase to stand buff (see buff n.1).]
In phrase to buff it: a. to play blindman's buff (also fig.); b. to stand firm, resist.
| 1608 Day Hum. out of Br. iv. iii. (1881) 67 Blindmans buffe? I haue bufft it fairely, and mine owne gullery grieues me not half so much as the Dukes displeasure. 1822 T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 84 Tuck yourself up, and buff it like a man. |