6 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

buffet

noun

1: a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room; has shelves and drawers [syn: {counter}, {sideboard}]

2: a meal set out on a buffet at which guests help themselves

3: usually inexpensive bar [syn: {snack bar}, {snack counter}]

verb

1: strike against forcefully; "Winds buffeted the tent" [syn: {knock about}, {batter}]

2: strike, beat repeatedly; "The wind buffeted him" [syn: {buff}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Buffet \Buf"fet\ (b[u^]f"f[e^]t), noun [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}, verb (used without an object), 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.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Buffet \Buf*fet"\ (b[oo^]f*f[=a]"), noun [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 food or refreshments.

3. Hence: A restaurant containing such a counter, as at a railroad station, or place of public gathering.

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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Buffet \Buf"fet\, verb (used without an object)

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.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Buffet \Buf"fet\, verb (used with an object) [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.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

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

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