buffet — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought.

   Synonyms

   sideboardsmorgasbord

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.

2. Food laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves.

   Synonyms

   buffet mealsmorgasbord

   Examples

   We'll be serving supper buffet style.

   "We got a big buffet coming up soon. Bacon, eggs, fresh fruit you wouldn't believe."

3. A small low stool; a hassock.

Noun

1. A blow or cuff with or as if with the hand, or by any other solid object or the wind.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Synonyms

   blowcollisioncuff

   Examples

   On his cheek a buffet fell.

   October 30, 1795, Edmund Burke, letter to Lord Auckland those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for years to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay

   More examples (1)

   Kipper stood blinking, as I had sometimes seen him do at the boxing tourneys in which he indulged when in receipt of a shrewd buffet on some tender spot like the tip of the nose.

2. The vibration of an aircraft when flying in or approaching a stall, caused by separation of airflow from the aircraft's wings.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   The aircraft configuration was such that there was little or no warning of the stall onset. The inboard slats were extended, and therefore, the flow separation from the stall would be limited to the outboard segment of the left wing and would not be felt by the left horizontal stabilizer. There would be little or no buffet. The DFDR also indicated that there was some turbulence, which could have masked any aerodynamic buffeting. Since the roll to the left began at V₂ + 6 and since the pilots were aware that V₂ was well above the aircraft's stall speed, they probably did not suspect that the roll to the left indicated a stall. In fact, the roll probably confused them, especially since the stickshaker had not activated.

Verb

1. To strike with a buffet; to cuff; to slap.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   They spit in his face and buffeted him.

2. To aggressively challenge, denounce, or criticise.

   Usage

   • Figurative
   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   batter

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   Is Burns obscure because he was gay and therefore ignorable until the Gay Rights Movement began? Or does he largely deserve his neglect? An answer requires that one examine not only Burns' books, but also the critical environment in which he was much buffeted — which, we are told, drove him to an early grave.

   Buffeted by criticism of his policy on Europe, battered by rebellion in the ranks over his bill to legalize same-sex marriage and wounded by the perception that he is supercilious, contemptuous and out of touch with mainstream Conservatism, Mr. Cameron earlier this week took the highly unusual step of sending a mass e-mail (or, as he called it, “a personal note”) to his party’s grass-roots members.

3. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against.

   Synonyms

   batter

   Examples

   to buffet the billows

   The sudden hurricane in thunder roars, / Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores.

   More examples (3)

   [...] I buffetted heat and mosquetoes, and got the hay all up [...]

   You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of your own, instead of being buffeted about the world—

   Atlantic gales constantly buffet Morwenstow, whose seven hamlets together constitute Cornwall's most northerly parish. The village is dotted with trees moulded into weird shapes by the wind, and above the trees rise the vicarage chimneystacks resembling miniature church towers.

4. To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling the clapper.

5. To struggle, contend; also in figurative or extended use: to move as if driven by force.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   Again the chirpy tone did nothing to pacify the woman holding on to her ankles. Soon Zoe was buffeting back and forward through the hole.

Noun

1. a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room; has shelves and drawers

   Synonyms

   countersideboard

   Broader terms

   furniturepiece of furniturearticle of furniture

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

   Broader terms

   mealrepast

3. usually inexpensive bar

   Synonyms

   snack barsnack counter

   Broader terms

   bar

Verb

1. strike against forcefully

   Synonyms

   knock aboutbatter

   Broader terms

   strike

   Examples

   Winds buffeted the tent

2. strike, beat repeatedly

   Synonyms

   buff

   Broader terms

   hit

   Examples

   The wind buffeted him