different between buff vs buffo

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From buffe (“leather”), from Middle French buffle (“buffalo”).

Noun

buff (countable and uncountable, plural buffs)

1. Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals.
   • c. 1589, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] he’s in a a suit of buff […]

2. A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing.
3. A brownish yellow colour.
   • 1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis Translated into English Verse, London: Jacob Tonson, Satire 10, lines 307-308, p. 203,^[2]

     […] a Visage rough,

     Deform’d, Unfeatur’d, and a Skin of Buff.

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest, Chapter 24,^[3]

     His face changed from tan to buff.

4. A military coat made of buff leather.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     A diuell in an euerla?ting garment hath him ; / On who?e hard heart is button’d vp with ?teele : / A Feind, a Fairie, pittile??e and ruffe : / A Wolfe, nay wor?e, a fellow all in buffe […]

5. (informal) A person who is very interested in a particular subject; an enthusiast.

   He’s a real history buff. He knows everything there is to know about the civil war.

6. (video games, role-playing games) An effect that makes a character or item stronger.

   I just picked up an epic damage buff! Let's go gank the other team!

7. (rail transport) Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition.
8. (colloquial) The bare skin.

   to strip to the buff

   • 1857, Thomas Wright, Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, London: Henry G. Bohn, p. 265,^[4]

     To be in buff, is equivalent to being naked.

9. The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.
10. A substance used to dilute (street) drugs in order to increase profits.
    • 2014, “Aldergrove’s 856 gang busted, $400,000 in drugs seized,” CBC News, 30 July, 2014,^[5]

      Police say this 20 ton hydraulic jack was used to press mixtures of cocaine and “buff” into brick.

Derived terms

• in the buff
• buffery
• buffhood
• buffism

Synonyms

• (an enthusiast about a particular subject): aficionado
• (video games): revamp

Antonyms

• (video games): debuff, nerf

Translations

Adjective

buff (comparative buffer or more buff, superlative buffest or most buff)

1. Of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow.
2. (bodybuilding) Unusually muscular. (also buffed or buffed out)

   The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.

   • 1994, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture, page 155:

     The appearance of logic often derives from faulty syllogisms such as Sgt. Koon's conclusion that King was an ex-con because he was "buffed out" (heavily muscled). The thinking is: "ex-cons are often buffed out; this man is buffed out; therefore, this man is an ex-con."

3. (slang) Physically attractive.

Derived terms

• buff-tip moth
• buffly
• buffster

Translations

Verb

buff (third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To polish and make shiny by rubbing.

2. (video games, role-playing games) To make a character or an item stronger.

3. (medical slang) To modify a medical chart, especially in a dishonest manner.

Derived terms

• buff out
• buff up
• buff wheel

Synonyms

• (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing): wax, shine, polish, furbish, burnish

Antonyms

• (video games): debuff, nerf

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Etymology 2

Old French bufer (“to cuff, buffet”). See buffet (“a blow”).

Verb

buff (third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To strike.

Noun

buff (plural buffs)

1. (obsolete) A buffet; a blow.

Derived terms

• blind man's buff

Etymology 3

Clipping of buffalo.

Noun

buff (countable and uncountable, plural buffs)

1. (informal) A buffalo, or the meat of a buffalo.
   • 2006, Bradley Mayhew, Joe Bindloss, Stan Armington, Nepal

     […] diced buff (buffalo) meat, usually heavily spiced […]

English

Etymology

From Italian buffo.

Noun

buffo (plural buffos)

1. (music) A comic singer, particularly in comic opera

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?buf.fo/
• Rhymes: -uffo
• Hyphenation: bùf?fo

Etymology 1

Compare Old French bouffer, originally "to puff up;" both are from Medieval Latin buffa, itself echoic of puffing out cheeks.

Adjective

buffo (feminine buffa, masculine plural buffi, feminine plural buffe)

1. funny, comical, amusing
2. strange, odd, goofy
3. whimsical
4. playful

Derived terms

• buffamente

Related terms

• buffa
• buffare

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

buffo m (plural buffi)

1. gust (of wind)

   Synonyms: folata, soffio

2. puff (of smoke)

   Synonym: sbuffo

Derived terms

• rabbuffare

Related terms

• bufare
• buffare

Etymology 3

Alteration of puf, from French pouf (“debt”), used in locutions such as faire pouf and à pouf.

Noun

buffo m (plural buffi)

1. (Rome, chiefly in the plural) debt

   Synonym: debito

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

buffo

1. first-person singular present indicative of buffare

References

• buffo¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• buffo² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• buffo³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana