Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
buff - 14 dictionary results
buff
1
[buhf] 
–noun
| 1. | a soft, thick, light-yellow leather with a napped surface, originally made from buffalo skin but later also from other skins, used for making belts, pouches, etc. |
| 2. | a brownish-yellow color; tan. |
| 3. | a buff stick or buff wheel. |
| 4. | a devotee or well-informed student of some activity or subject: Civil War buffs avidly read the new biography of Grant. |
| 5. | Informal. the bare skin: in the buff. |
| 6. | Also called buffcoat. a thick, short coat of buffalo leather, worn esp. by English soldiers and American colonists in the 17th century. |
| 7. | Informal. a buffalo. |
–adjective
| 8. | having the color of buff. |
| 9. | made of buff leather. |
| 10. | Slang. physically attractive; muscular. |
–verb (used with object)
| 11. | to clean or polish (metal) or give a grainless finish of high luster to (plated surfaces) with or as if with a buff stick or buff wheel. |
| 12. | to polish or shine, esp. with a buffer: to buff shoes. |
| 13. | to dye or stain in a buff color. |
Origin:
1545–55; 1900–05 for def. 4; earlier buffe wild ox, back formation from buffle < MF < LL būfalus; see buffalo; (def. 4) orig. a person enthusiastic about firefighting and firefighters, allegedly after the buff uniforms once worn by volunteer firefighters in New York City
1545–55; 1900–05 for def. 4; earlier buffe wild ox, back formation from buffle < MF < LL būfalus; see buffalo; (def. 4) orig. a person enthusiastic about firefighting and firefighters, allegedly after the buff uniforms once worn by volunteer firefighters in New York City
Related forms:
buff⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
buff⋅a⋅ble, adjective
Synonyms:
10. burnish, shine.
10. burnish, shine.
buff
2 [buhf] –verb (used with object)
| 1. | to reduce or deaden the force of; act as a buffer. |
–noun
| 2. | Chiefly British Dialect. a blow; slap. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To buff
| buff 1 (bŭf) n.
[From obsolete buffle, buffalo, from French buffle, from Late Latin būfalus; see buffalo.] |
| buff 2 (bŭf) n. Informal One who is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a subject: a Civil War buff. [From the buff-colored uniform worn by New York volunteer firemen around 1920, originally applied to an enthusiast of fires and firefighting.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Buff
Buff\ (b[u^]f), n. [OE. buff, buffe, buff, buffalo, F. buffle buffalo. See Buffalo.]1. A sort of leather, prepared from the skin of the buffalo, dressed with oil, like chamois; also, the skins of oxen, elks, and other animals, dressed in like manner. "A suit of buff." --Shak. 2. The color of buff; a light yellow, shading toward pink, gray, or brown. A visage rough, Deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff. --Dryden. 3. A military coat, made of buff leather. --Shak. 4. (Med.) The grayish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat. See Buffy coat, under Buffy, a. 5. (Mech.) A wheel covered with buff leather, and used in polishing cutlery, spoons, etc. 6. The bare skin; as, to strip to the buff. [Colloq.] To be in buff is equivalent to being naked. --Wright.Buff
Buff\, a. 1. Made of buff leather. --Goldsmith. 2. Of the color of buff. Buff coat, a close, military outer garment, with short sleeves, and laced tightly over the chest, made of buffalo skin, or other thick and elastic material, worn by soldiers in the 17th century as a defensive covering. Buff jerkin, originally, a leather waistcoat; afterward, one of cloth of a buff color. [Obs.] --Nares. Buff stick (Mech.), a strip of wood covered with buff leather, used in polishing.Buff
Buff\, v. t. To polish with a buff. See Buff, n., 5.Buff
Buff\, v. t. [OF. bufer to cuff, buffet. See Buffet a blow.] To strike. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.Buff
Buff\, n. [See Buffet.] A buffet; a blow; -- obsolete except in the phrase "Blindman's buff." Nathless so sore a buff to him it lent That made him reel. --Spenser.Buff
Buff\, a. [Of uncertain etymol.] Firm; sturdy. And for the good old cause stood buff, 'Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff. --Hudibras.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : buff
Spanish:
color de ante,
German:
lederfarben,
Japanese:
黄褐色
buff
1580, buffe leather, from M.Fr. buffle "buffalo." Color term comes from hue of buffalo hides (later ox hides); association of "hide" and "skin" led c.1602 to in the buff, and use of buff or suede to polish metal led to sense of verb "to polish with a buff" (1885). Buff-colored uniforms of N.Y.C. volunteer firefighters since 1820s led to meaning "enthusiast" (1903).
"The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a predominant characteristic." [N.Y. "Sun," Feb. 4, 1903]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
buff
see in the buff.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
