buffalo

[ buhf-uh-loh ]
See synonyms for buffalo on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural buf·fa·loes, buf·fa·los, (especially collectively) buf·fa·lo.
  1. any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae.: Compare bison, Cape buffalo, water buffalo.

  1. a shuffling tap-dance step.

verb (used with object),buf·fa·loed, buf·fa·lo·ing.Informal.
  1. to puzzle or baffle; confuse; mystify: He was buffaloed by the problem.

  2. to impress or intimidate by a display of power, importance, etc.: The older boys buffaloed him.

Origin of buffalo

1
1535–45, Americanism; earlier bufalo<Portuguese (now bufaro) <Late Latin būfalus, variant of Latin būbalusbubal

Words Nearby buffalo

Other definitions for Buffalo (2 of 2)

Buffalo
[ buhf-uh-loh ]

noun
  1. a port in W New York, on Lake Erie.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use buffalo in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for buffalo (1 of 2)

buffalo

/ (ˈbʌfəˌləʊ) /


nounplural -loes or -lo
  1. Also called: Cape buffalo a member of the cattle tribe, Syncerus caffer, mostly found in game reserves in southern and eastern Africa and having upward-curving horns

  2. short for water buffalo

  1. Also called: bison US and Canadian a member of the cattle tribe, Bison bison, formerly widely distributed over the prairies of W North America but now confined to reserves and parks, with a massive head, shaggy forequarters, and a humped back: Related adjective: bubaline

verb(tr) US and Canadian informal
  1. (often passive) to confuse

  2. to intimidate

Origin of buffalo

1
C16: from Italian bufalo, from Late Latin būfalus, alteration of Latin būbalus; see bubal

British Dictionary definitions for Buffalo (2 of 2)

Buffalo

/ (ˈbʌfəˌləʊ) /


noun
  1. a port in W New York State, at the E end of Lake Erie. Pop: 285 018 (2003 est)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Buffalo

Buffalo

City in western New York, on Lake Erie and the Niagara River.

Notes for Buffalo

Niagara Falls is northwest of Buffalo.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.