[syn: buffet, buff]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Buffet \Buf*fet"\ (b[oo^]f*f[=a]"), n. [F. buffet, LL. bufetum;
of uncertain origin; perh. fr. the same source as E. buffet a
blow, the root meaning to puff, hence (cf. puffed up) the
idea of ostentation or display.]
1. A cupboard or set of shelves, either movable or fixed at
one side of a room, for the display of plate, china, etc.,
a sideboard.
[1913 Webster]
Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride
Turns you from sound philosophy aside. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. A counter for food or refreshments.
[1913 Webster]
3. Hence: A restaurant containing such a counter, as at a
railroad station, or place of public gathering.
[1913 Webster]
4. A meal set out on a buffet[2], arranged so that guests may
serve themselves and choose those items that they desire;
as, a buffet dinner. Diners usually take a plate provided
and move in a line past the items on the buffet[2],
placing those items they desire on the plate, to be eaten
at some convenient place.
[PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Buffet \Buf"fet\ (b[u^]f"f[e^]t), n. [OE. buffet, boffet, OF.
buffet a slap in the face, a pair of bellows, fr. buffe blow,
cf. F. bouffer to blow, puff; prob. akin to E. puff. For the
meaning slap, blow, cf. F. soufflet a slap, souffler to blow.
See Puff, v. i., and cf. Buffet sidebroad, Buffoon]
1. A blow with the hand; a slap on the face; a cuff.
[1913 Webster]
When on his cheek a buffet fell. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
2. A blow from any source, or that which affects like a blow,
as the violence of winds or waves; a stroke; an adverse
action; an affliction; a trial; adversity.
[1913 Webster]
Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for
yeas to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay.
--Burke.
[1913 Webster]
Fortune's buffets and rewards. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. A small stool; a stool for a buffet or counter.
[1913 Webster]
Go fetch us a light buffet. --Townely
Myst.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Buffet \Buf"fet\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buffeted; p. pr. & vb.
n. Buffeting.] [OE. buffeten, OF. buffeter. See the
preceding noun.]
1. To strike with the hand or fist; to box; to beat; to cuff;
to slap.
[1913 Webster]
They spit in his face and buffeted him. --Matt.
xxvi. 67.
[1913 Webster]
2. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive
with or contend against; as, to buffet the billows.
[1913 Webster]
The sudden hurricane in thunder roars,
Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores.
--Broome.
[1913 Webster]
You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of
your own, instead of being buffeted about the world.
--W. Black.
[1913 Webster]
3. [Cf. Buffer.] To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling
the clapper.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Buffet \Buf"fet\, v. i.
1. To exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to
strive; to contend.
[1913 Webster]
If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for
her favors, I could lay on like a butcher. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. To make one's way by blows or struggling.
[1913 Webster]
Strove to buffet to land in vain. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
buffet
n 1: a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining
room; has shelves and drawers [syn: buffet, counter,
sideboard]
2: a meal set out on a buffet at which guests help themselves
3: usually inexpensive bar [syn: snack bar, snack counter,
buffet]
v 1: strike against forcefully; "Winds buffeted the tent" [syn:
buffet, knock about, batter]
2: strike, beat repeatedly; "The wind buffeted him" [syn:
buffet, buff]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
222 Moby Thesaurus words for "buffet":
abuse, agonize, ambo, antagonize, automat, bafflement, balk, bang,
bar, bash, baste, bastinado, batter, battle, beanery, beat,
beat against, beat up against, belabor, belt, bench, betrayed hope,
birch, bistro, blasted expectation, blighted hope, blip, blow,
board, box, box the ears, breast the wave, bruise, buck,
buffet the waves, bung, bung up, buvette, cafe, cafeteria, cane,
canteen, cantina, chop, chophouse, chuck wagon, close with, clout,
club, coffee shop, coffeehouse, coffeeroom, combat, comedown,
compete with, contend, contend against, contest, contuse,
cookhouse, cookshack, cookshop, counter, cowhide,
cruel disappointment, cudgel, cuff, cut, dash, dashed hope, defeat,
desk, diner, dining hall, dining room, disappointment,
discomfiture, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, do violence to,
do wrong by, do wrong to, dog wagon, drive-in, drive-in restaurant,
drub, eatery, eating house, escritoire, failure,
fallen countenance, fast-food chain, fiasco, fight, fight against,
fizzle, flagellate, flail, flap, flog, foiling, forlorn hope,
frustration, fustigate, give a whipping, give the stick,
grapple with, grill, grillroom, grunt and sweat, hamburger stand,
hammer, hash house, hashery, hassle, hope deferred, horsewhip,
hot-dog stand, huff and puff, ill-treat, ill-use, injure,
join battle with, kitchen, knock, knock about, knout,
labor against, lace, lambaste, larrup, lash, lay on, lectern,
letdown, lunch counter, lunch wagon, luncheonette, lunchroom,
maltreat, manhandle, maul, mess hall, militate against, mirage,
mishandle, mistreat, molest, offer resistance, outrage, paste,
patter, pelt, pistol-whip, pizzeria, poke, pommel, pound,
pulverize, pummel, punch, quick-lunch counter, rap, rawhide,
reluct, reluctate, restaurant, rival, rough, rough up,
sandwich shop, savage, scourge, scuffle, secretaire, secretary,
setback, slap, slap the face, sledgehammer, smack, smite,
smorgasbord, snack bar, sock, sore disappointment, spank, stand,
stem the tide, strap, strike, stripe, strive, strive against,
struggle, struggle against, swinge, switch, table, take on,
tantalization, tavern, tearoom, tease, thrash, thresh, thump,
token punishment, trattoria, trounce, truncheon, tussle, vie with,
wallop, whack, whale, whip, whomp, whop, workbench, wrestle,
writing table