Buffalo

¹ American  

[buhf-uh-loh] / ˈbʌf əˌloʊ /

noun

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

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buffalo ² American  

[buhf-uh-loh] / ˈbʌf əˌloʊ /

noun

plural

buffaloes, buffalos,

plural

buffalo

1. any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae.

2. buffalo robe.

3. a buffalofish.

4. a shuffling tap-dance step.

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verb (used with object)

Informal.

buffaloed, buffaloing

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.

buffalo ¹ British  

/ ˈbʌfəˌləʊ /

noun

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

3. 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

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verb

1. (often passive) to confuse

2. to intimidate

Buffalo ² British  

/ ˈbʌfəˌləʊ /

noun

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

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Buffalo Cultural  

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

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Discover More

Niagara Falls is northwest of Buffalo.

Etymology

Origin of buffalo

1535–45, earlier bufalo < Portuguese (now bufaro ) < Late Latin būfalus, variant of Latin būbalus bubal

Example Sentences

He tried to keep his eyes open, but the sting of the salt and the speed meant that he saw only the other nereids around him, charging like stampeding buffalo.

From Literature

Kruger's fauna -- including the famed Big Five grouping of elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo -- had largely escaped the flooding because animals had sensed the danger and moved to higher lying areas.

From Barron's

That puts places like Okomu, a tropical forest in the country's southwest -- and the endangered buffalo, forest elephants and white-bellied pangolins that live in it -- increasingly at risk.

From Barron's

Cheyenne hunters supplied buffalo robes to trading companies.

From The Wall Street Journal

As a young father, Craig moved his family to the Northern Territories of Australia, where he wrangled “scrub bulls and buffalo” that had escaped from herds and needed to be sent to market.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• agitate
• bewilder
• chill
• confound
• daunt
• demoralize
• disconcert
• discourage
• dishearten
• dismay
• dispirit
• distract
• fluster
• frighten
• perturb
• rattle
• sap
• shake
• undermine
• unsettle