Buffet, n.
Etymology: [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.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Buffet, n.
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.
Buffet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buffeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Buffeting.]
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. Etym: [Cf. Buffer.]
To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling the clapper.
Buffet, 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.