Buf*fet" (b&oocr;f*fā"), 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.
Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride
Turns you from sound philosophy aside.
Pope.
2. A counter for refreshments; a restaurant at a
railroad station, or place of public gathering.
Buf"fet (bŭf"f&ebreve;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.
When on his cheek a buffet fell.
Sir W. Scott.
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.
Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for yeas to
brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay.
Burke.
Fortune's buffets and rewards.
Shak.
3. A small stool; a stool for a buffet or
counter.
Go fetch us a light buffet.
Townely Myst.
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.
They spit in his face and buffeted him.
Matt. xxvi. 67.
2. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly;
to strive with or contend against; as, to buffet the
billows.
The sudden hurricane in thunder roars,
Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores.
Broome.
You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of your
own, instead of being buffeted about the world.
W. Black.
3. [Cf. Buffer.] To deaden the sound of
(bells) by muffling the clapper.
Buf"fet, v. i. 1. To
exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to strive; to
contend.
If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for
her favors, I could lay on like a butcher.
Shak.
2. To make one's way by blows or
struggling.
Strove to buffet to land in vain.
Tennyson.
