4 entries under this word
n. [Fr. buffet, It. buffetto, Sp. bufete, L. Lat. bufetum. Cf. Sp. bufa, a leather bag to carry wine, wineskin. Probably also buffet, bufete, orig. meant a wineskin, and then a board or table where wine in skins was placed and sold.] A cupboard, sideboard, or closet, either movable or erected at one side of a room, for the display of plate, china, and other like articles, formerly quite common, but now generally gone out of use.
n. [O. Fr. buffet, a slap in the face, and a pair of bellows, from buffe, blow, It. bufetto, fillip; Sp. & Pg. bofetada, a slap on the cheek, O. Fr. bufeter, to beat; Fr. bufet, puff of wind. See BUFF, v. t.]
Sense 1. A blow with the hand; a box on the ear or face; a cuff.
And on his cheek a buffet fell. W. Scott.
Sense 2. Violent force or resistance, as of winds and waves.
Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for years to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay. Burke.
Sense 3. A small stool; a buffet-stool. “Go fetch us a light buffet.” Towneley.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. BUFFETED; p. pr. & vb. n. BUFFETING.] 1. To strike with the hand or fist; to box; to beat; to cuff; to slap. Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him. Matt. xxvi. 67. 2. To beat in contention; to contend against; as, to buffet the billows. The sudden hurricane in thunder roars. Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores. Broome.