English

Noun

buff ‎(plural buffs)

1. Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals.
   • Shakespeare

     a suit of buff

2. A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing.
3. A brownish yellow colour.

   buff colour:

   • Dryden

     a visage rough, deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff

4. A military coat made of buff leather.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

5. (informal) A person who is very interested in a particular subject; an enthusiast.

   He’s a real history buff. He knows everything there is to know about the civil war.

6. (video games, role-playing games) An effect that temporarily makes a character stronger.

   I just picked up an epic damage buff! Let's go gank the other team!

7. (rail transport) Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition.
8. The bare skin.

   to strip to the buff

   • Wright

     To be in buff is equivalent to being naked.

9. The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.
10. A substance used to dilute (street) drugs in order to increase profits.
    • CBC

      Police said the 20-ton hydraulic jack was used to press mixtures of cocaine and buff into bricks.

11. The meat of a buffalo.
    • 2006, Bradley Mayhew, ‎Joe Bindloss, ‎Stan Armington, Nepal

      […] diced buff (buffalo) meat, usually heavily spiced […]

    • 1992, Marilyn Stablein, The Census Taker: Stories of a Traveler in India and Nepal (page 62)

      You will eat water buffalo meat and drink boiled water buffalo milk: buff burgers at Aunt Jane's restaurant, buff mo-mos which are the Tibetan won-tons, and buff steaks at The Globe.

Derived terms

• in the buff

Synonyms

• (video games): revamp

Antonyms

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

Translations

Adjective

buff ‎(comparative buffer or more buff, superlative buffest or most buff)

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

Translations

Verb

buff ‎(third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To polish and make shiny by rubbing.

   He was already buffing the car's hubs.‎

2. (video games, role-playing games) To make a character or an item stronger.

   The enchanter buffed the paladin to prepare him to fight the dragon.

   I noticed that the pistols were buffed in the update.

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

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Etymology 2

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

Verb

buff ‎(third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To strike.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Noun

buff ‎(plural buffs)

1. (obsolete) A buffet; a blow.
   • Spenser

     Nathless so sore a buff to him it lent / That made him reel.

Derived terms

• blind man's buff