buffalo
noun
any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae.
Showing results for buffalo.
buffalo
1 American
[buhf-uh-loh]
/ ˈbʌf əˌloʊ /
noun
-
buffaloes,
plural
-
buffalos,
plural
-
buffalo
plural
-
any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae.
-
a buffalofish.
-
a shuffling tap-dance step.
verb (used with object)
Informal.
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buffalos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
buffaloed,
past participle, past
-
buffaloing
present participle
-
to puzzle or baffle; confuse; mystify.
He was buffaloed by the problem.
-
to impress or intimidate by a display of power, importance, etc..
The older boys buffaloed him.
Buffalo
2
American
[buhf-uh-loh]
/ ˈbʌf əˌloʊ /
noun
buffalo
1
British
/ ˈbʌfəˌləʊ /
noun
-
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
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short for water buffalo
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Also called: bison. 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
verb
-
(often passive) to confuse
-
to intimidate
Buffalo
2
British
/ ˈbʌfəˌləʊ /
noun
Buffalo
Cultural
Discover More
Niagara Falls is northwest of Buffalo.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
buffalosimple
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buffalossimple
-
have buffaloedperfect
-
has buffaloedperfect
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am buffaloingprogressive
-
are buffaloingprogressive
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is buffaloingprogressive
-
have been buffaloingperfect progressive
-
has been buffaloingperfect progressive
Past
-
buffaloedsimple
-
had buffaloedperfect
-
was buffaloingprogressive
-
were buffaloingprogressive
-
had been buffaloingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of buffalo
1535–45, earlier bufalo < Portuguese (now bufaro ) < Late Latin būfalus, variant of Latin būbalus bubal
Explanation
A buffalo is a large, ox-like animal with horns and shaggy fur. In North America, a buffalo is another name for a bison. There are various types of buffalo around the world, including South Asia's water buffalo and the African buffalo, but the bison is the most well-known type of buffalo in the U.S. You can also use the word as a verb, meaning "to intimidate," and when it's capitalized, Buffalo is a city in New York state. These various meanings have resulted in the longest sentence in English that uses only one word: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" meaning — Buffalonian (1) buffalos (2) that other Buffalonian (3) buffalos (4) scare (5) also scare (6) other Buffalonian (7) buffalos (8).
Vocabulary lists containing buffalo
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Amazing Animals, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The festival coincides with Vijayadashami, celebrated in eastern, southern and other parts of India, to honour goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
As the U.S. celebrates the animal named its national mammal in 2016, it’s worth remembering a seeming paradox: Economic forces devastated the buffalo and then, more than any act of Congress, brought it back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Tshenatshe Monwela, an elder in Maun, a tourism town in north-western Botswana told local media that his community should have received buffalo instead.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Our favorite dish was the house-made pappardelle with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, topped with beautifully seared scallops.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Nhamo had found no evidence of lions or hyenas, buffalo or rhinoceroses.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
“People who went through this would say, ‘I have seen this movie before,’” Feng Gu, an accounting professor at the University of Buffalo, told MarketWatch last week after reports of the Marvell-Lumentum deal began surfacing.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
That’s according to Feng Gu, a professor of accounting and law at the University at Buffalo School of Management.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
Watt — who is 37 and a three-time former NFL defensive player of the year — during the Buffalo Bills-Las Vegas Raiders game on Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
The Los Angeles Rams started the season as the clearest Super Bowl favourites in nine years but were replaced by the San Francisco 49ers after last Monday's overtime defeat by the Buffalo Bills.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Born in 1913 in Buffalo, New York, she had been a prizewinning graduate student in math.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
In the latest outbreak in the Munyamadzi Game Management Area, in Muchinga province, Zambia's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit said 46 hippos, eight elephants, five buffaloes and one crocodile had died since July.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Ramaphosa said the cash came from the sale of buffaloes.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Judy, the first rabbit to join the city's police force, has proven to her macho colleagues — buffaloes, hippos, and warthogs — that she deserves her place in the investigative department.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
It has some of the fewer than 100 remaining critically endangered mountain bongos in the world, alongside rhinos, elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards and others.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Fiddler crabs scurry when you’re ten yards away; howler monkeys stir in their branches when you’re at twenty; African buffaloes react at seventy-five.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Yala National Park, located in the country's south-east, is one of Sri Lanka's most popular wildlife parks, home to a high concentration of leopards, elephants and buffalos, among other animals.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
"The Ministry will contribute 723 animals comprising 30 hippos, 60 buffalos, 50 impalas, 100 blue wilderbeast, 300 zebras, 83 elephants and 100 elands," the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said in a statement.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024
This includes the taurine cattle found primarily in Europe and temperate areas of Asia; indicine cattle, or zebus, found primarily in India and tropical areas of Asia; and water buffalos in East and Southeast Asia.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 13, 2023
The family is from Ibrash, in the agricultural Nile Delta province of Sharqia, where water buffalos, cows and donkeys share dirt roads with cars, motorbikes and three-wheeled rickshaws known as tuk-tuks.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
In the fields, gray buffalos and brown cows graze lazily on the grass.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
"Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites," he said.
From Fox News ● Oct. 19, 2021
The senior-laden Bulls have won 12 consecutive games and won’t be able to sneak up on anyone after they buffaloed Arizona in the first round last season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2019
“You probably could have buffaloed people 10 years ago,” said Sassa.
From Time ● Feb. 18, 2015
He knows people around the world, and as we say in Wyoming, he won’t be buffaloed.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2012
Despite this, Dasch confidently assured them that he had "buffaloed" the man.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
When it comes to buffaloing the opposite side, that's my long suit.
From The Outlet by Andy Adams
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