An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Chapter 123 : BUFE, _s._ Beef, S. B. Fr. _boeuf_, id. Isl. _bufe_, cattle; from _bu_, an ox. _To_ BU

BUFE, _s._ Beef, S. B.

Fr. _boeuf_, id. Isl. _bufe_, cattle; from _bu_, an ox.

_To_ BUFF, _v. n._ To emit a dull sound, as a bladder filled with wind does, S.

_Chr. Kirk._

_It played buff_, S. It made no impression.

Belg. _boff-en_, to puff up the cheeks with wind; Fr. _bouff-er_, id.

_To_ BUFF, _v. a. To buff corn_, to give grain half thras.h.i.+ng, S.

"The best of him is _buft_," a phrase commonly used to denote that one's natural strength is much gone, S.

Alem. _buff-en_, pulsare.

_To buff herring_, to steep salted herrings in fresh water, and hang them up, S.

~Buff~, _s._ A stroke, a blow, S.

_Chr. Kirk._

Fr. _bouffe_, a blow, L. B. _buffa_, alapa.

_To_ BUFF _out_, _v. n._ To laugh aloud, S.

Fr. _bouffee_, a sudden, violent, and short blast, _buff-ir_, to spurt.

BUFF, _s._ Nonsense, foolish talk, S.

_s.h.i.+rrefs._

Teut. _beffe_, id. nugae, irrisio; Fr. _buffoi_, vanite; also moquerie.

BUFF, _s._ Skin. _Stript to the buff_, stript naked, S.

Perhaps from E. _buff_, as denoting leather prepared from the _skin_ of a buffalo.

BUFF NOR STYE. _He cou'd neither say buff nor stye_, S. i. e. "He could neither say one thing nor another." It is also used, but, I suspect, improperly, in regard to one who has no activity; _He has neither buff nor stye with him_ S. B.

Teut. _bof_, celeusma, a cheer made by mariners. _Stye_ might be viewed as referring to the act of mounting the shrouds, from Su. G.

_stig-a_, to ascend.

BUFFER, _s._ A foolish fellow; a term much used among young people, Clydes.

Fr. _bouffard_, "often puffing, strouting out, swelling with anger,"

Cotgr.

BUFFETS, _s. pl._ A swelling in the glands of the throat, Ang.

(_branks_, synon.) probably from Fr. _bouffe_, swollen.

BUFFETSTOOL, _s._ A stool with sides, in form of a square table with leaves, when these are folded down, S. Lincolns, id.

_A. Douglas._

Fr. _buffet_, a sideboard; expl. by Roquefort, dressoir, which denotes a board for holding plates without box or drawer.

BUFFIE, BUFFLE, _adj._ Fat, purfled; applied to the face, S.

Fr. _bouffe_, blown up, swollen.

BUFFONS, _s. pl._ Pantomimic dances.

Fr. _boufons_, those by whom they were performed.

BUG, _pret._ Built.

V. ~Big~, _v._

_Minstrelsy Border._

BUGE, _s._ "Lamb's fur; Fr. _agnelin_." Rudd.

_Douglas._

Fr. _bouge_, E. _buge_, id.

BUGGE, _s._ A bugbear.

V. ~Boggarde~.

BUGGLE, _s._ A bog, a mora.s.s, S. B. This seems to be merely a dimin.