BUFF

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does buff mean? 

• BUFF (noun)
  The noun BUFF has 5 senses:

1. an ardent follower and admirer

2. a soft thick undyed leather from the skins of e.g. buffalo or oxen

3. bare skin

4. a medium to dark tan color

5. an implement consisting of soft material mounted on a block; used for polishing (as in manicuring)

  Familiarity information: BUFF used as a noun is common.

• BUFF (adjective)
  The adjective BUFF has 1 sense:

1. of the yellowish-beige color of buff leather

  Familiarity information: BUFF used as an adjective is very rare.

• BUFF (verb)
  The verb BUFF has 2 senses:

1. strike, beat repeatedly

2. polish and make shiny

  Familiarity information: BUFF used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ardent follower and admirer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

buff; devotee; fan; lover

Hypernyms ("buff" is a kind of...):

follower (a person who accepts the leadership of another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "buff"):

aerophile (a lover of aviation)

aficionado (a serious devotee of some particular music genre or musical performer)

amorist (one dedicated to love and lovemaking especially one who writes about love)

bacchanal; bacchant (a drunken reveller; a devotee of Bacchus)

groupie (an enthusiastic young fan (especially a young woman who follows rock groups around))

metalhead (a fan of heavy metal music)

Holonyms ("buff" is a member of...):

followers; following (a group of followers or enthusiasts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A soft thick undyed leather from the skins of e.g. buffalo or oxen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("buff" is a kind of...):

leather (an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bare skin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Context example:

swimming in the buff means to swim naked

Hypernyms ("buff" is a kind of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A medium to dark tan color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

buff; caramel; caramel brown; raw sienna; yellowish brown

Hypernyms ("buff" is a kind of...):

brown; brownness (an orange of low brightness and saturation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "buff"):

snuff-color; snuff-colour (dark yellowish brown)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An implement consisting of soft material mounted on a block; used for polishing (as in manicuring)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

buff; buffer

Hypernyms ("buff" is a kind of...):

implement (instrumentation (a piece of equipment or tool) used to effect an end)

Derivation:

buff (polish and make shiny)

• BUFF (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of the yellowish-beige color of buff leather

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

• BUFF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they buff    ... he / she / it buffs   
Past simple: buffed   
Past participle: buffed   
-ing form: buffing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike, beat repeatedly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

buff; buffet

Context example:

The wind buffeted him

Hypernyms (to "buff" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Polish and make shiny

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

buff; burnish; furbish

Context example:

buff my shoes

Hypernyms (to "buff" is one way to...):

polish; shine; smooth; smoothen (make (a surface) shine)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They buff the glass tubes

Derivation:

buff; buffer (an implement consisting of soft material mounted on a block; used for polishing (as in manicuring))

buffer (a power tool used to buff surfaces)

 Context examples 

He’s close on six foot, and I should put him well into the thirteen stones when he’s buffed.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Rendered complete by drab pantaloons and a buff waistcoat, I thought Mr. Barkis a phenomenon of respectability.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The coat comes in buff, black, other solid colors, black-and-tan, and parti-color (white with black, white with buff or red, white with black and tan points).

(American Cocker Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He looked like an Italian, was dressed like an Englishman, and had the independent air of an American—a combination which caused sundry pairs of feminine eyes to look approvingly after him, and sundry dandies in black velvet suits, with rose-colored neckties, buff gloves, and orange flowers in their buttonholes, to shrug their shoulders, and then envy him his inches.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The cotton rat has a stout body, small ears and a dark coat that can be dark brown or mixed buff and black, with a tail length that is 35% of its total body length.

(Cotton Rat, NCI Thesaurus)

In ring slang, they buffed well.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled, and others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the fore parts of their legs and feet; but the rest of their bodies was bare, so that I might see their skins, which were of a brown buff colour.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But now, nephew, in that buff and blue suit you may pass anywhere; so, if you please, we will step into my vis-à-vis, and I will show you something of the town.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The famous Master of the Ring was clad in honour of the occasion in a most resplendent scarlet coat worked in gold at the buttonholes, a white stock, a looped hat with a broad black band, buff knee-breeches, white silk stockings, and paste buckles—a costume which did justice to his magnificent figure, and especially to those famous balustrade calves which had helped him to be the finest runner and jumper as well as the most formidable pugilist in England.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)