I. buffet car /ˈbʊfeɪ kɑː $ bəˈfeɪ kɑːr/ BrE AmE ( also buffet ) noun [countable] British English
a part of a train where you can buy food and drink
II. buf ‧ fet 1 /ˈbʊfeɪ $ bəˈfeɪ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1700-1800 ; Language: French ]
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 . American English a piece of furniture in which you keep the things you use to serve and eat a meal SYN sideboard British English
III. buf ‧ fet 2 /ˈbʌfət, ˈbʌfɪt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive 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 noun [uncountable and countable]
buffet something about phrasal verb
to move something in one direction and then another, again and again, with force:
The body was buffeted about in the waves.