buffalo
- any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae.Compare bison, Cape buffalo, water buffalo.
- buffalo robe.
- a buffalofish.
- a shuffling tap-dance step.
- 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.
Origin of buffalo
Related Words
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Historical Examples
When it comes to buffaloing the opposite side, that's my long suit.
The OutletAndy Adams
Buffalo
- a port in W New York State, at the E end of Lake Erie. Pop: 285 018 (2003 est)
buffalo
- 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
- short for water buffalo
- 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 backRelated adjective: bubaline
- (often passive) to confuse
- to intimidate
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for buffaloing
buffalo
n.
1580s (earlier buffel, 1510s, from Middle French), from Portuguese bufalo "water buffalo," from Latin bufalus, variant of bubalus "wild ox," from Greek boubalos "buffalo," originally a kind of African antelope, later used of a type of domesticated ox in southern Asia and the Mediterranean lands, perhaps from bous "ox, cow" (see cow (n.)). Wrongly applied since 1630s to the American bison. Buffalo gnat is recorded from 1822.
Buffalo
city in western New York state, U.S., of disputed origin (there never were buffalo thereabouts), perhaps from the name of a native chief, or a corruption of French beau fleuve "beautiful river." Buffalo wings finger food so called because the recipe was invented in Buffalo (1964, at Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar on Main Street).
buffalo
v.
"alarm, overawe," 1900, from buffalo (n.). Probably from the animals' tendency to mass panic. Related: Buffaloed; buffaloing.