Buff

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒf

From buffe ("leather"), from Middle French buffle ("buffalo").

Full definition of buff

Noun

1. Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals.
• Shakespearea suit of buff
2. A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing.
3. A brownish yellow colour.
• Drydena visage rough, deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff
4. A military coat made of buff leather.
5. (informal) A person who is very interested in a particular subject; an enthusiast.He’s a history buff.
6. (gaming) An effect that temporally makes a gaming character stronger.
7. (rail transport) Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition.
8. The bare skin.to strip to the buff
• WrightTo be in buff is equivalent to being naked.
9. The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.

Derived terms

• in the buff

Antonyms

• (video games) debuff
• (video games) nerf

Adjective

1. Of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow.
2. (bodybuilding): Unusually muscular. (also buffed or buffed out)The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.
• 1994, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture, page 155:The appearance of logic often derives from faulty syllogisms such as Sgt. Koon's conclusion that King was an ex-con because he was "buffed out" (heavily muscled). The thinking is: "ex-cons are often buffed out; this man is buffed out; therefore, this man is an ex-con."
3. (slang) attractive.

Derived terms

• buff-tip moth
• buffly

Verb

1. To polish and make shiny by rubbing.
   He was already buffing the car's hubs.
2. (gaming) To make a character stronger.The enchanter buffed the paladin to prepare him to fight the dragon.

Derived terms

• buff out
• buff up
• buff wheel

Synonyms

• (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing) wax, shine, polish, furbish, burnish

Antonyms

• (video games) debuff
• (video games) nerf

Old French bufer ("to cuff, buffet"). See buffet ("a blow").

Verb

1. To strike.

Noun

1. (obsolete) A buffet; a blow.
• SpenserNathless so sore a buff to him it lent
  That made him reel.

Derived terms

• blind man's buff