From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
buffet
n 1: a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining
room; has shelves and drawers [syn: counter,
sideboard]
2: a meal set out on a buffet at which guests help themselves
3: usually inexpensive bar [syn: snack bar, snack counter]
v 1: strike against forcefully; "Winds buffeted the tent" [syn:
knock about, batter]
2: strike, beat repeatedly; "The wind buffeted him" [syn:
buff]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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When on his cheek a buffet fell. --Sir W.
Scott.
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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.
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Those planks of tough and hardy oak that used for
yeas to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay.
--Burke.
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Fortune's buffets and rewards. --Shak.
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3. A small stool; a stool for a buffet or counter.
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Go fetch us a light buffet. --Townely
Myst.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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Not when a gilt buffet's reflected pride
Turns you from sound philosophy aside. --Pope.
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2. A counter for food or refreshments.
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3. Hence: A restaurant containing such a counter, as at a
railroad station, or place of public gathering.
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4. A meal set out on a buffet[2], arranged so that guests may
serve themselves and choose those items that they desire;
as, a buffet dinner. Diners usually take a plate provided
and move in a line past the items on the buffet[2],
placing those items they desire on the plate, to be eaten
at some convenient place.
[PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Buffet \Buf"fet\, v. i.
1. To exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to
strive; to contend.
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If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for
her favors, I could lay on like a butcher. --Shak.
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2. To make one's way by blows or struggling.
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Strove to buffet to land in vain. --Tennyson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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They spit in his face and buffeted him. --Matt.
xxvi. 67.
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2. To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive
with or contend against; as, to buffet the billows.
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The sudden hurricane in thunder roars,
Buffets the bark, and whirls it from the shores.
--Broome.
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You are lucky fellows who can live in a dreamland of
your own, instead of being buffeted about the world.
--W. Black.
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3. [Cf. Buffer.] To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling
the clapper.
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