buff

Less common meanings

10. 10
    undyed leathernouncountable or uncountable

    A strong, undyed leather made from the hide of buffalo or similar animals.

    The old jerkin was cut from pale, undyed buff.

    Saddlers prized buff for its toughness and natural color.

    Note

    The root of the whole family: buff began as buffe, "leather," from Middle French buffle, "buffalo," so the animal's name passed to its hide. As a material it is usually a mass noun, as in a jerkin of buff. The color, the polishing tool, the soldier's coat and even bare skin all take their names from this leather. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The leather word derives from buffe, meaning leather, ultimately from Middle French buffle, meaning buffalo. en.wiktionary.org
    • The colour sense derives from buff leather. en.wikipedia.org
    • The polishing-tool sense derives from tools covered with buff leather. en.wiktionary.org
    • The military-coat sense refers to a coat made from this leather. en.wikisource.org
    • The bare-skin sense belongs to the same leather-derived family. en.wikisource.org
11. 11
    ox meatnouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

    The meat of a buffalo, or a buffalo itself.

    The butcher sold buff alongside goat and chicken.

    Travelers in the region often eat buff in spicy curries.

    Note

    A simple clipping of buffalo, and a much later formation than the leather word. It is at home in writing about Nepal and parts of India, where water buffalo is a common meat: buff burgers, buff mo-mos, buff steaks. On menus it is often written before another noun, as in buff meat.

12. 12
    remove graffitiverbslangtransitive

    To remove graffiti from a surface, especially when done by someone other than a graffiti writer.

    The transit authority buffs tagged carriages within hours.

    Workers buff every mural in the underpass, erasing months of effort.

    Similarclean, scrub, erase, remove

    Note

    Graffiti writers' slang, which sees the act from the wall's side. To buff a piece is to erase it, and the one doing the buffing is usually a cleaner or an authority rather than another writer. It is the reverse of the polishing verb: here the work removes or covers something instead of bringing up a shine. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Buff is graffiti writers' slang for removing graffiti, especially by someone outside the writing community. en.wiktionary.org
    • Buffing a piece means erasing it, characteristically through the actions of authorities. graffiti.org
    • Buffing also includes painting over graffiti; rubbing material off is not its defining process. goethe.de
13. 13
    attractiveadjectivedialectalMulticultural London English

    Physically attractive; good-looking.

    Everyone at school agreed the new girl was well buff, with her bright smile and perfect hair.

    My cousin says the singer is buff, but I think she's only average-looking.

    UsageOften with well or proper before it: well buff, proper buff.

    Similarhot, fit, attractive, gorgeous

    Oppositeugly, unattractive

    Note

    In Multicultural London English slang, the word praises looks rather than build: a buff person is simply attractive, whether or not they are muscular. Outside that speech, listeners are likely to hear the "muscular" meaning instead. If being understood matters, the context should make clear which compliment is meant.

14. 14
    nounobsolete

    A strike or a blow.

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

    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

    A man must consider what a blind-man’s-buff is this game of conformity. If I know your sect I anticipate your argument.

    1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”

    Note

    The noun of the striking verb, now obsolete on its own. Spenser could write in 1590 of "so sore a buff" that it made a knight reel. Its survivor is the game name blind-man's-buff, which Emerson uses as a figure for conformity in 1841. Outside that phrase, a modern reader will not recognize it. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The blow noun corresponds to the striking verb. en.wikisource.org
    • The Spenser passage appeared in 1590, the first-publication year of Books I–III of The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
    • Spenser wrote so sore a buff of a blow that made the knight Guyon reel. en.wikisource.org
    • The old blow sense survives in the game's name blind-man's-buff. en.wikipedia.org
    • Emerson used blind-man's-buff as a metaphor for conformity in Self-Reliance. en.wikisource.org
    • The Emerson usage was published in 1841. en.wikisource.org
15. 15
    nounrare

    Another spelling of buffe: armor worn with a helmet to protect the whole face or its lower part.

    Note

    A piece of historical armor for the face, more often spelled buffe. It covered the whole face, or the lower face beneath a visor, and was built of lames that could be lowered, as in a falling buffe, or raised. In older translations it appears in the plural beside a related piece: helmets with "strange beavers or buffs." Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Buff denotes historical face armor covering the whole face or the lower face beneath a visor. en.wiktionary.org
    • Buffe is the usual spelling; buff is uncommon. en.wiktionary.org
    • The articulated lames could be lowered or raised. en.wikipedia.org
    • An older translation uses the plural buffs alongside beavers in a description of helmets. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    verbobsolete

    To stammer or stutter when speaking.

    Note

    A third, unrelated word: Middle English buffen, from Old English byffan, "to mumble, mutter," traced back to a root meaning "to fear." It survives only in dialect or in old texts. A reader may meet it there, but a modern listener would not take "he buffed" to mean stammering. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The stammering verb has a separate etymology deriving from Middle English buffen. en.wiktionary.org
    • Middle English buffen derives from Old English byffan, meaning to mumble or mutter. en.wiktionary.org
    • The etymology ultimately traces to a root meaning to fear. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    noun

    A coat of buff leather worn as part of military dress.
18. 18
    verb

    To make changes to entries in a medical chart, often deceptively.
19. 19
    noun

    A substance used to dilute street drugs so a dealer can sell more and earn higher profits.
20. 20
    noundated

    The grayish, viscid substance that makes up the buffy coat in separated blood.
21. 21
    noun

    The compressive force in a train's couplers that occurs when the slack between cars is bunched together.
22. 22
    verbobsolete

    To strike or deliver a blow.

    Bravely run Red-hood, / There was a shock, / To have buff’d out the blood / From ought but a block.

    a. 1640, Ben Jonson, The Under-wood