buff1
[buhf]
- a soft, thick, light-yellow leather with a napped surface, originally made from buffalo skin but later also from other skins, used for making belts, pouches, etc.
- a brownish-yellow color; tan.
- a buff stick or buff wheel.
- a devotee or well-informed student of some activity or subject: Civil War buffs avidly read the new biography of Grant.
- Informal. the bare skin: in the buff.
- Also called buffcoat. a thick, short coat of buffalo leather, worn especially by English soldiers and American colonists in the 17th century.
- Informal. a buffalo.
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- having the color of buff.
- made of buff leather.
- Slang. physically attractive; muscular.
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- 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.
- to polish or shine, especially with a buffer: to buff shoes.
- to dye or stain in a buff color.
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Origin of buff1
1545–55; 1900–05 for def 4; earlier buffe wild ox, back formation from buffle < Middle French < Late Latin būfalus; see buffalo; (def 4) originally a person enthusiastic about firefighting and firefighters, allegedly after the buff uniforms once worn by volunteer firefighters in New York City
Synonyms
See more synonyms for buff on Thesaurus.com10. burnish, shine.
buff2
[buhf]
- to reduce or deaden the force of; act as a buffer.
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- Chiefly British Dialect. a blow; slap.
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Origin of buff2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for buffed
Contemporary Examples
Inside, patrons can sip on bespoke whisky and coffee while getting that buffed and polished look.
The buffed and handsome pair could be seen on early-morning runs around the walled compound.
Koon: Buffed out is jargon that I have come to associate with very muscular.
Would you please describe to the jury what buffed out means to you.
Mounger: With regard to your state of mind, what were you thinking when you saw this buffed out person?
Historical Examples
I buffed for a while, and then I put the fishbowl on my head and looked through it.
The Risk ProfessionDonald Edwin Westlake
So he rubbed wax until his elbows ached, massaged the wax into the wood, buffed it with shop rags so that the house shone.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves TownCory Doctorow
Curiously the deposit was very dark, almost black, which could not be buffed or polished bright.
It had been washed and buffed and polished until it looked as new as the day I picked it out on the salesroom floor.
Highways in HidingGeorge Oliver Smith
He was all his grandfather was, only sandpapered, buffed and polished by civilization.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 7Elbert Hubbard
buff1
- a soft thick flexible undyed leather made chiefly from the skins of buffalo, oxen, and elk
- (as modifier)a buff coat
- a dull yellow or yellowish-brown colour
- (as adjective)buff paint
- Also called: buffer
- a cloth or pad of material used for polishing an object
- a flexible disc or wheel impregnated with a fine abrasive for polishing metals, etc, with a power tool
- informal one's bare skin (esp in the phrase in the buff)
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- to clean or polish (a metal, floor, shoes, etc) with a buff
- to remove the grain surface of (a leather)
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French buffle, from Old Italian bufalo, from Late Latin būfalus buffalo
buff2
- (tr) to deaden the force of
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- archaic a blow or buffet (now only in the phrase blind man's buff)
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Word Origin
C15: back formation from buffet ²
buff3
- informal an expert on or devotee of a given subjecta cheese buff
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Word Origin
C20: originally US: an enthusiastic fire watcher, from the buff-coloured uniforms worn by volunteer firemen in New York City
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
Word Origin and History for buffed
buff
n.
1570s, buffe leather "leather made of buffalo hide," from Middle French buffle "buffalo" (15c., via Italian, from Latin bufalus; see buffalo (n.)).
The color term comes from the hue of buffalo hides (later ox hides). Association of "hide" and "skin" led c.1600 to in the buff. Buff-colored uniforms of New York City 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]
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buff
adj.
"well-built, hunky," 1980s, from buff (v.) "polish, make attractive."
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buff
v.
"to polish, make attractive," 1885, in reference to the treatment of buff leather or else to the use of buff cloth in polishing metals, from buff (n.). Related: Buffed; buffing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with buffed
buff
see in the buff.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.