buffer — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny). A machine with rotary brushes, passed over a hard floor to clean it.

2. Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny). A machine for polishing shoes and boots.

3. A boxer.

   Usage

   • Ireland
   • Archaic
   • Slang

   Examples

   Such a buffer as Donnelly, / Ereland never again will see.

Noun

1. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid, such as by resisting a change in pH when an acid or alkali is added.

2. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. Anything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.

3. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.

   The underframe, which has been designed to take buffing loads of 200 tons both on the centre coupler and on the retractable side buffers, consists of two centre girders from which cantilevers project to support the solebars, which in turn carry the bodyside structure.

   Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed.

4. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. The barrier placed at the end of the track to absorb the impact of a train that fails to stop.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Of course, I was not always right. I questioned the value of Crossrail (a scheme revived by Prescott after being scrapped by the Conservatives), suggesting wrongly that it may be "doomed to hit the buffers" […]. A dozen years later, I published my book on it, extolling the line's wonders. We are all allowed to change our minds.

5. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.

6. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.

7. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A portion of memory set aside to temporarily store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.

8. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.

9. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A means, often normally idle inventory, used as a cushion against fluctuations in business, especially in the supply or demand for goods.

10. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A reserve of funds set aside for use only when adverse circumstances prevail.

    Examples

    I keep a savings buffer of three months' worth of living expenses.

11. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another. A gap that isolates or separates two things.

    Usage

    • Figurative

    Examples

    More examples (1)

    An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner. Before that, England had utterly dominated to take another purposeful stride towards the 2013 European Championship in Israel. They have already established a five-point buffer at the top of Group Eight.

12. The chief boatswain's mate.

    Usage

    • UK usage
    • Slang

    Examples

    More examples (2)

    He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out.

    I happen to be on the brow handing my Bosun's Mate duties over to an Ordinary Seaman when the Buffer arrives with an unofficial Side-Party to man the brow with Bosun's Calls at the ready.

Verb

1. To use a buffer or buffers; to attempt to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing or another.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   The electronic apparatus is designed to buffer up the sorted wagons in the sidings at a speed not exceeding 4.7 m.p.h.—a particularly important provision in this yard, with its substantial traffic in whisky.

2. To use a buffer or buffers; to attempt to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing or another. To queue up (an input) so that it is performed immediately once it is possible.

   Examples

   Some games let you buffer jumps—if you hold the jump button mid-air, your character will jump as soon as they touch the ground.

3. To store (data) in memory temporarily while it is awaiting processing.

   Usage

   • Intransitive
   • Transitive

4. To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

Noun

1. A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.

   Usage

   • Colloquial

   Examples

   Lastly, the looking-glass reflects Boots and Brewer, and two other stuffed Buffers interposed between the rest of the company and possible accidents.

   More examples (1)

   Here, too, are Boots and Brewer, and the two other Buffers; each Buffer with a flower in his button-hole, his hair curled, and his gloves buttoned on tight, apparently come prepared, if anything had happened to the bridegroom, to be married instantly.

   I can’t expect two youngsters like you to find it much fun talking to an old buffer like me.

Noun

1. A dog.

   Usage

   • UK usage
   • Dated
   • Slang

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Who does not remember that adorable little dog, and that last Christmas season at Olympia, when the Whimmy we had all loved had been dead a month or so, and his buffer ran disconsolately round the circus, pining […]

Noun

1. (chemistry) an ionic compound that resists changes in its pH

   Broader terms

   compoundchemical compound

2. a neutral zone between two rival powers that is created in order to diminish the danger of conflict

   Synonyms

   buffer zone

   Broader terms

   zone

3. an inclined metal frame at the front of a locomotive to clear the track

   Synonyms

   fendercowcatcherpilot

   Broader terms

   frameworkframe

4. (computer science) a part of RAM used for temporary storage of data that is waiting to be sent to a device; used to compensate for differences in the rate of flow of data between components of a computer system

   Synonyms

   buffer storagebuffer store

   Broader terms

   memory devicestorage device

5. a power tool used to buff surfaces

   Synonyms

   polisher

   Broader terms

   power tool

6. a cushion-like device that reduces shock due to an impact

   Synonyms

   fender

   Broader terms

   device

7. an implement consisting of soft material mounted on a block; used for polishing (as in manicuring)

   Synonyms

   buff

   Broader terms

   implement

Verb

1. add a buffer (a solution)

   Broader terms

   modify

   Examples

   buffered saline solution for the eyes

2. protect from impact

   Synonyms

   cushionsoften

   Broader terms

   modify

   Examples

   cushion the blow