Buffet \Buf"fet\ (b[u^]f"f[e^]t), n. [OE. buffet, boffet, OF. buffet a slap in the face, a pair of bellows, fr. buffe blow, cf. F. bouffer to blow, puff; prob. akin to E. puff. For the meaning slap, blow, cf. F. soufflet a slap, souffler to blow. See Puff, v. i., and cf. Buffet sidebroad, Buffoon]

1. A blow with the hand; a slap on the face; a cuff.

When on his cheek a buffet fell. --Sir W. Scott.

2. A blow from any source, or that which affects like a blow, as the violence of winds or waves; a stroke; an adverse action; an affliction; a trial; adversity.

Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for yeas to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay. --Burke.

Fortune's buffets and rewards. --Shak.

3. A small stool; a stool for a buffet or counter.

Go fetch us a light buffet. --Townely Myst.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Buffet \Buf*fet"\ (b[oo^]f*f[=a]"), n. [F. buffet, LL. bufetum; of uncertain origin; perh. fr. the same source as E. buffet a blow, the root meaning to puff, hence (cf. puffed up) the idea of ostentation or display.]

1. A cupboard or set of shelves, either movable or fixed at one side of a room, for the display of plate, china, etc., a sideboard.

Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride Turns you from sound philosophy aside. --Pope.

2. A counter for refreshments; a restaurant at a railroad station, or place of public gathering.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Buffet \Buf"fet\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buffeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Buffeting.]

[OE. buffeten, OF. buffeter. See the preceding noun.]

1. To strike with the hand or fist; to box; to beat; to cuff; to slap.

They spit in his face and buffeted him. --Matt. xxvi. 67.

2. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against; as, to buffet the billows.

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

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

3. [Cf. Buffer.]

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

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Buffet \Buf"fet\, v. i.

1. To exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to strive; to contend.

If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher. --Shak.

2. To make one's way by blows or struggling.

Strove to buffet to land in vain. --Tennyson.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)