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Entry 12 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Buffet

/(bo͝of*fā")/ · Buf·fet · IPA /bəˈfeɪ/
01 n. 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.
  1. 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. 2.
    A counter for food or refreshments.
  3. 3.
    A restaurant containing such a counter, as at a railroad station, or place of public gathering.
  4. 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.
02 n. A blow with the hand; a slap on the face; a cuff.
  1. 1.
    A blow with the hand; a slap on the face; a cuff.
    “When on his cheek a buffet fell.” — Sir W. Scott.
  2. 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. 3.
    A small stool; a stool for a buffet or counter.
    “Go fetch us a light buffet.” — Townely Myst.
03 v. t. To strike with the hand or fist; to box; to beat; to cuff; to slap.
imp. & p. p. Buffeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Buffeting
  1. 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. 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. 3.
    To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling the clapper.
04 v. i. To exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to strive; to contend.
  1. 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. 2.
    To make one's way by blows or struggling.
    “Strove to buffet to land in vain.” — Tennyson.