buffet

Noun (1)

buffet (plural buffets)

1. A counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought.
   • 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.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 9

   Synonyms:

   sideboard, smorgasbord, cupboard

2. Food laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves.
   • We'll be serving supper buffet style.
   • "We got a big buffet coming up soon. Bacon, eggs, fresh fruit you wouldn't believe."1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 312

   Synonyms:

   buffet meal, smorgasbord

3. A small low stool; a hassock.

Noun (2)

IPA/ˈbʌf.ɪt/

buffet (countable and uncountable, plural buffets)

1. (countable) A blow or cuff with or as if with the hand, or by any other solid object or the wind.
   • On his cheek a buffet fell.1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co....
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   blow, collision, cuff

2. (uncountable) The vibration of an aircraft when flying in or approaching a stall, caused by separation of airflow from the aircraft's wings.
   • 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...1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “Aircraft and Flightcrew Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International...

Verb

IPA/ˈbʌf.ɪt/

buffet (third-person singular simple present buffets, present participle buffeting or (rare) buffetting, simple past and past participle buffeted or (rare) buffetted)

1. (transitive) To strike with a buffet; to cuff; to slap.
   • They spit in his face and buffeted him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 26:67
2. (figuratively, transitive) To aggressively challenge, denounce, or criticise.
   • 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...1977 August 20, Robert Etherington, “John Horne Burns and His Enemies”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 10
   • 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...2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2013

   Synonyms:

   batter

3. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against.
   • to buffet the billows
   • The sudden hurricane in thunder roars, / Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores.1726, William Broome, epistle to Elijah Fenton

   Synonyms:

   batter

4. To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling the clapper.
5. (intransitive) To struggle, contend; also in figurative or extended use: to move as if driven by force.
   • 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.2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], “Tug of War”, in Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN, pages 200–201