buffet
1a variety of dishes presented in a line, from which diners in a restaurant serve themselves, usually at a fixed price regardless of how much one eats: The lavish all-you-can-eat buffet delivered a feast of salads, curries, pasta dishes, and sumptuous desserts for $40.
a restaurant where food is presented in this way: They own one of the best high-end buffets in the country.
a meal laid out on one or more tables so that guests may serve themselves.
a sideboard or cabinet for holding china, table linen, etc.
a wide variety of things to choose from: The school’s internet safety workshop contains a buffet of ideas for parents in the 21st century.
a counter, bar, or the like, for lunch or refreshments.
a restaurant containing such a counter or bar.
consisting of food, refreshments, etc., laid out on tables or buffets from which guests or customers serve themselves: a buffet supper;buffet service.
Origin of buffet
1Words Nearby buffet
Other definitions for buffet (2 of 2)
a blow, as with the hand or fist.
a violent shock or concussion.
to strike, as with the hand or fist.
to strike against or push repeatedly: The wind buffeted the house.
to contend against; battle.
to struggle with blows of hand or fist.
to force one's way by a fight, struggle, etc.
Origin of buffet
2Other words for buffet
Other words from buffet
- buf·fet·er, noun
- un·buf·fet·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use buffet in a sentence
When we think of buffets, we tend to think of their 1980s and early ’90s heyday, when commercial jingles for Sizzler might have been confused with our national anthem.
Fast-Food Buffets Are a Thing of the Past. Some Doubt They Ever Even Existed. | MM Carrigan | September 29, 2020 | EaterA great gift for the hostess in your life, this wine rack also serves as a buffet style server, with a table top, storage shelves, space for 20 vertical bottles of wine, and hanging storage for wine glasses.
Wine bottle holders and racks that make sophisticated gifts | PopSci Commerce Team | September 29, 2020 | Popular-ScienceFaced with an all-you-can-eat buffet, that’s exactly what a plant’s green body sets out to do.
Junk Food Is Bad For Plants, Too - Issue 90: Something Green | Anne Biklé & David R. Montgomery | September 23, 2020 | NautilusThis often means reducing capacities to earlier limits, or closing down a restaurant’s seated bar or buffet station.
Where Restaurants and Bars Are Closing Again Across the U.S. | Elazar Sontag | August 27, 2020 | EaterThe antiquated system of waiting two weeks to be paid, sometimes with a paper check, now seems as outdated as office buffet lunches.
Research: Only 25 percent of professionals expect to be working from home long-term | DailyPay | August 17, 2020 | Digiday
There were stomachs, taut and flat, but also undulating bellies, soft and bloated from the breakfast buffet.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’ | Asawin Suebsaeng | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTNutritionist and trainers escorted players assigned to lose or gain weight to the buffet line and sat with them.
College Football Fattens Players Up and Then Abandons Them | Evin Demirel | October 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTLa Teresita also has an adjoining cafeteria where you can head for an informal buffet and heaping piles of Cuban delicacies.
I remember going to a rehearsal dinner that had lobster tail on the buffet and thinking that was decadent.
Which of Kim Kardashian’s Weddings Was More Ridiculous? | Kevin Fallon | May 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSuch is the buffet of delights served on an Oprah Winfrey press tour.
Oprah Winfrey’s Fabulous ‘Butler’ Press Tour: The Best Moments (VIDEO) | Kevin Fallon | August 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTImmediately Messa went up the stairs, and safely reached a large room where two candles were burning on a buffet.
It was there also that she ate, keeping her belongings in a rare old buffet, dingy and battered from a hundred years of use.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinBuffetted, by the opposite party, out of one place, and now waiting till they come to buffet us out of another.
The Battle of Hexham; | George ColmanA great “feed” will take place in the grand hall; the buffet will serve as usual individual suppers and baskets for two persons.
The Real Latin Quarter | F. Berkeley SmithBehind the group a white-faced young woman, of perhaps twenty, stood clutching at a buffet for support.
Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants | H. Irving Hancock
British Dictionary definitions for buffet (1 of 3)
(ˈbʊfeɪ) a counter where light refreshments are served
(ˈbʊfeɪ)
a meal at which guests help themselves from a number of dishes and often eat standing up
(as modifier): a buffet lunch
(ˈbʌfɪt, ˈbʊfeɪ) a piece of furniture used from medieval times to the 18th century for displaying plates, etc and typically comprising one or more cupboards and some open shelves
(ˈbʌfɪ) Scot and Northern English dialect a kind of low stool, pouffe, or hassock
Origin of buffet
1British Dictionary definitions for buffet (2 of 3)
/ (ˈbʌfɪt) /
(tr) to knock against or about; batter: the wind buffeted the boat
(tr) to hit, esp with the fist; cuff
to force (one's way), as through a crowd
(intr) to struggle; battle
a blow, esp with a fist or hand
aerodynamic excitation of an aircraft structure by separated flows
Origin of buffet
2Derived forms of buffet
- buffeter, noun
British Dictionary definitions for Buffet (3 of 3)
/ (French byfɛ) /
Bernard (bɛrnar). 1928–99, French painter and engraver. His works are characterized by sombre tones and thin angular forms
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
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