buffer

¹ American  

[buhf-er] / ˈbʌf ər /

noun

1. an apparatus at the end of a railroad car, railroad track, etc., for absorbing shock during coupling, collisions, etc.

2. any device, material, or apparatus used as a shield, cushion, or bumper, especially on machinery.

3. any intermediate or intervening shield or device reducing the danger of interaction between two machines, chemicals, electronic components, etc.

4. a person or thing that shields and protects against annoyance, harm, hostile forces, etc., or that lessens the impact of a shock or reversal.

5. any reserve moneys, negotiable securities, legal procedures, etc., that protect a person, organization, or country against financial ruin.

6. buffer state.

7. Ecology. an animal population that becomes the prey of a predator that usually feeds on a different species.

8. Computers. a storage device for temporarily holding data until the computer is ready to receive or process the data, as when a receiving unit has an operating speed lower than that of the unit feeding data to it.

9. Electronics. a circuit with a single output activated by one or more of several inputs.

10. Chemistry.

    1. any substance or mixture of compounds that, added to a solution, is capable of neutralizing both acids and bases without appreciably changing the original acidity or alkalinity of the solution.

    2. Also called buffer solution. a solution containing such a substance.

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verb (used with object)

• buffers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• buffered,
  past participle,  past
• buffering
  present participle

1. Chemistry. to treat with a buffer.

2. to cushion, shield, or protect.

3. to lessen the adverse effect of; ease.

   The drug buffered his pain.

4. Digital Technology. to temporarily save (data) before actively accessing it so that it can be loaded at a rapid or uniform rate: You’ll get a load screen while the game buffers those high-resolution graphics.

   Give the app time to buffer the audio when you are streaming music.

   You’ll get a load screen while the game buffers those high-resolution graphics.

buffer ² American  

[buhf-er] / ˈbʌf ər /

noun

1. a device for polishing or buffing, as a buff stick or buff wheel.

2. a worker who uses such a device.

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buffer ³ American  

[buhf-er] / ˈbʌf ər /

noun

British Slang.

1. a foolish or incompetent person.

2. a fellow; man.

3. a chief boatswain's mate in the British navy.

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buffer ¹ British  

/ ˈbʌfə /

noun

1. informal a stupid or bumbling man (esp in the phrase old buffer )

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buffer ² British  

/ ˈbʌfə /

noun

1. any device used to shine, polish, etc; buff

2. a person who uses such a device

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buffer ³ British  

/ ˈbʌfə /

noun

1. one of a pair of spring-loaded steel pads attached at both ends of railway vehicles and at the end of a railway track to reduce shock due to contact

2. a person or thing that lessens shock or protects from damaging impact, circumstances, etc

3. chem

   1. an ionic compound, usually a salt of a weak acid or base, added to a solution to resist changes in its acidity or alkalinity and thus stabilize its pH

   2. Also called: buffer solution. a solution containing such a compound

4. computing a memory device for temporarily storing data

5. electronics an isolating circuit used to minimize the reaction between a driving and a driven circuit

6. short for buffer state

7. informal to finish or be stopped, esp unexpectedly

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verb

1. to insulate against or protect from shock; cushion

2. chem to add a buffer to (a solution)

buffer Scientific  

/ bŭf′ər /

1. Chemistry A substance that prevents change in the acidity of a solution when an acid or base is added to the solution or when the solution is diluted. Buffers are used to make solutions of known pH, especially for instrument calibration purposes. Natural buffers also exist in living organisms, where biochemical reactions are very sensitive to changes in pH.

2. Computer Science A device or an area of a computer that temporarily stores data that is being transferred between two machines that process data at different rates, such as a computer and a printer.

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buffer Cultural  

1. In chemistry, the components of a solution that can neutralize either an acid or a base and thus maintain a constant pH.

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Discover More

Buffers are often used in medications designed to decrease acidity in the stomach.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbuffered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• buffering
  present
• buffered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• buffer
  simple
• buffers
  simple
• have buffered
  perfect
• has buffered
  perfect
• am buffering
  progressive
• are buffering
  progressive
• is buffering
  progressive
• have been buffering
  perfect progressive
• has been buffering
  perfect progressive

Past

• buffered
  simple
• had buffered
  perfect
• was buffering
  progressive
• were buffering
  progressive
• had been buffering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will buffer
  simple
• will have buffered
  perfect
• will be buffering
  progressive
• will have been buffering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of buffer¹

First recorded in 1825–35; buff ² + -er ¹

Origin of buffer²

First recorded in 1850–55; buff ¹ + -er ¹

Origin of buffer³

First recorded in 1745–50; origin uncertain

Explanation

A buffer is an object that either softens a blow like a fender, or helps buff or shine stuff, like a nail buffer. Buffer comes from the Old French buff, a word that imitates the sound of a blow to a soft body. A person can also be a buffer if she keeps people prone to fighting from coming in contact or hurting each other, like a teacher who separates two rowdy kids at the lunch table. A buffer state is a country between two conflicting ones that helps them better get along by creating a buffer between them — like Mongolia is for China and Russia.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buffer buffers buffered buffering

As the city moves to ban wells and new state laws require buffer zones and plugging idle wells, “the relationship between residential communities and oil drilling operators has been reset,” she wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

As you get older it’s important to have a buffer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

DMZ, a buffer strip containing the Military Demarcation Line which marks the land border between the two Koreas.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

While all his experiences up to 2016 were instructive, they couldn’t buffer the shock and disgust of the backlash to his protest.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026

It is a tragedy that happens often to anyone who acts as a buffer.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

He said he would seek to leverage tax dollars to help communities better prepare for wildfires, creating buffers and hardening structures because of wildfires that will inevitably occur in certain communities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

At a recent event in Houston, Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth warned that strategic reserves and other buffers that cushioned the effect of the Iran war in its early stages were now wearing thin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

It's possible that a global AI race travelling at Silicon Valley's top speeds could be about to hit the buffers of very localised political and environmental concerns.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

It comes after years of stagnation in the eurozone’s largest economy, whose export-orientated industrial sector hit the buffers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

A clanking of buffers and the shrill whistles of locomotives came out of the darkness.

From The Blue Germ by Maurice Nicoll

"The people who are responsible for doing this in the first place seem to have got away from it, they seem to be protected and buffered and inured," Sheen said.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

So far prices have been modulated in financial markets by expectations of an imminent settlement and buffered in the physical market by the drawing down of inventories.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

A defined-outcome or buffered ETF is one that protects the investor by limiting downside risk in return for giving up some of the broad stock market’s upside potential.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026

But noise, as well as glare, are typically buffered with vegetative landscaping and setbacks, or the distance between the property line and the nearest structure.

From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026

Down, down the hill he went, buffered by the cool breeze.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

By buffering those short-term fluctuations, the kidney might help maintain a more consistent individual chemical profile in urine.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

Still, as I shuffled papers, I became part of the buffering, incomplete chain of communication.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

It resonates more with the progress bar instead of the buffering icon.

From Slate ● Apr. 4, 2026

Without my boyfriend’s paycheck buffering our vibes-based accounting, it was time to face the scariest part of managing your money: the spending audit.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026

I've looked at a lot of code for electronic buffering.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Related Words

• bulwark
• cushion
• intermediary