Buffs

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buff¹

(bŭf)

1. A soft, thick, undyed leather made chiefly from the skins of buffalo, elk, or oxen.

2. A military uniform coat made of such leather.

3. A pale, light, or moderate yellowish pink to yellow, including moderate orange-yellow to light yellowish brown.

4. A piece of soft material, such as velvet or leather, often mounted on a block and used for polishing.

adj.

1. Made or formed of buff: a buff jacket.

2. Of the color buff.

3. buff·er, buff·est Slang Having good muscle tone; physically fit and trim: buff athletes lifting weights at the gym.

tr.v. buffed, buff·ing, buffs

1. To polish or shine with a piece of soft material.

2. To soften the surface of (leather) by raising a nap.

3. To make the color of buff.

Idiom:

in the buff

Naked.

[From obsolete buffle, buffalo, from French buffle, from Late Latin būfalus; see buffalo.]

buff²

(bŭf)

n. Informal

One who is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a subject: a Civil War buff.

[From the buff-colored uniform worn by New York volunteer firemen in the 19th century, originally applied to an enthusiast of fires and firefighting.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Buffs

(bʌfs)

pl n

(Military) the Buffs the Third Regiment of Foot, esp the Royal East Kent Regiment

[C19: from their buff-coloured facings]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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References in classic literature ?

It appears, then, that the Eatanswill people, like the people of many other small towns, considered themselves of the utmost and most mighty importance, and that every man in Eatanswill, conscious of the weight that attached to his example, felt himself bound to unite, heart and soul, with one of the two great parties that divided the town--the Blues and the Buffs. Now the Blues lost no opportunity of opposing the Buffs, and the Buffs lost no opportunity of opposing the Blues; and the consequence was, that whenever the Buffs and Blues met together at public meeting, town-hall, fair, or market, disputes and high words arose between them.

Of course it was essentially and indispensably necessary that each of these powerful parties should have its chosen organ and representative: and, accordingly, there were two newspapers in the town--the Eatanswill GAZETTE and the Eatanswill INDEPENDENT; the former advocating Blue principles, and the latter conducted on grounds decidedly Buff. Fine newspapers they were.

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And here as in a game of blindman's buff the French ran into our vanguard.

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There was one passenger in the coach,--a small dark-haired person in a glossy buff calico dress.

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A bit of her naked arm is visible between the buff leather of the gauntlet and the sleeve of her gown; and as the day wears on its feminine smoothness becomes scarified by the stubble, and bleeds.

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The striking points in his appearance were his buff waistcoat, short-clipped blond hair, and neutral physiognomy.

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With serene regularity, as if controlled by a schedule, bullets buffed into men.

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Perhaps, too, some warlike captain, dressed in his buff coat, with a corselet beneath it, accompanied the governor and councillors.

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The workshops have been shut up half an hour or more in Adam Bede's timber-yard, which used to be Jonathan Burge's, and the mellow evening light is falling on the pleasant house with the buff walls and the soft grey thatch, very much as it did when we saw Adam bringing in the keys on that June evening nine years ago.

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"There don't seem ter be a minute in the day that Miss Polly ain't jest hangin' 'round waitin' ter do somethin' for that blessed lamb if 'tain't more than ter let in the cat--an' her what wouldn't let Fluff nor Buff up-stairs for love nor money a week ago; an' now she lets 'em tumble all over the bed jest 'cause it pleases Miss Pollyanna!

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of the ship to the other; and that they played blind-man's buff or

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Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled, and others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the fore parts of their legs and feet; but the rest of their bodies was bare, so that I might see their skins, which were of a brown buff colour.

Buffs

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Buffs

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