I .
/ ˈbʊfeɪ; ˈbʌfeɪ; NAmE bəˈfeɪ/ noun
—see also buffet (II)
1.
a meal at which people serve themselves from a table and then stand or sit somewhere else to eat :
a buffet lunch / supper
Dinner will be a cold buffet, not a sit-down meal.
2.
a place, for example in a train or bus station, where you can buy food and drinks to eat or drink there, or to take away
3.
( BrE ) = buffet car
4.
( especially NAmE ) = sideboard (1)
II .
/ ˈbʌfɪt; NAmE /
—see also buffet (I) verb
[ vn ] [ often passive ] to knock or push sb/sth roughly from side to side :
to be buffeted by the wind
( figurative , formal )
The nation had been buffeted by a wave of strikes.
► buf·fet·ing noun [ U , C , usually sing. ]
••
WORD ORIGIN
I . early 18th cent. (denoting a sideboard): from French , from Old French bufet stool, of unknown origin.
II . Middle English : from Old French buffeter (verb), buffet (noun), diminutive of bufe blow.