buffet

buf|fet¹ [ˈbufeı US bəˈfeı] n

[Date: 1700-1800; : Frenc]

1.) a meal at a party or other occasion, in which people serve themselves at a table and then move away to eat

▪ a cold buffet

buffet breakfast/lunch/supper

▪ The price includes morning coffee, buffet lunch, and afternoon tea.

2.) a place in a railway station, bus station etc where you can buy and eat food or drink

3.) AmE a piece of furniture in which you keep the things you use to serve and eat a meal

British Equivalent: sideboard

buffet ²

buf|fet² [ˈbʌfıt] v [T usually passive]

[Date: 1200-1300; Origin: buffet 'blow, hit' (13-21 centuries), from Old French, from buffe 'blow']

1.) if something, especially wind, rain, or the sea, buffets something, it hits it with a lot of force

▪ London was buffeted by storms last night.

2.) literary to treat someone unkindly

▪ I was weary of being buffeted by life.

>buffeting n [U and C]

buffet about [buffet sth about] phr v

to move something in one direction and then another, again and again, with force

▪ The body was buffeted about in the waves.