I. buff·er ˈbəfə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: obsolete English buff to bark (of imitative origin) + -er
archaic slang : dog 1
II. buf·fer noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
1. slang : fellow , guy ; especially : duffer — often used with old
2. slang Britain : a chief boatswain's mate
III. buff·er noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: buff (II) + -er
1. : any of various devices, apparatus, or pieces of material designed primarily to reduce shock due to contact: as
a. : an apparatus on the end of a railway car to close the space between adjoining cars and to absorb shocks incident to car coupling and movement
b. Britain : a bumper-type shock absorber usually installed in pairs on the ends of railway cars in Europe
2. : a means or device used as a cushion against the shock of fluctuations in business or financial activity
3. : something that serves to separate two items: as
a. : buffer state
b. : a person who shields another especially from trivial and annoying routine matters that would interfere with more important activities
c. : an electronic device (as a circuit) used to isolate two radio circuits to avoid undesired reactions between them
d. : an animal that by serving as food for predators cuts down the predation losses of another animal (as a game bird) more desired in a community
e. : a member of a complex of multiple factors that tends to modify the expression of a major gene and reduce the variability of its response to environment
f. : a temporary storage unit (as in a computer) ; especially : one that accepts information at one rate and delivers it at another
4.
a. : a substance or mixture of substances (as acid salts of weak acids or amphoteric substances) that in solution is capable of neutralizing within limits both acids and bases and thus acts to maintain the original hydrogen-ion concentration of the solution, various of such substances playing fundamental roles in natural processes (as bicarbonates and proteins in biological fluids or clay and organic matter in soils)
b. : buffer solution
IV. buff·er transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to modify the effect of : lessen the impact of : cushion
the canopy likewise buffers the burning sun — Newsweek
2. : to treat (as an acid solution) with a buffer
V. buff·er noun
( -s )
Etymology: buff (VI) + -er
1. : a worker who buffs a particular thing or material (as shoes or leather) or who uses a particular buffing device (as a buffing wheel)
2. : any of various devices used in buffing: as
a. : buffing wheel
b. : a horseshoer's tool with a chisel blade to remove heads of nails and a point or prod to drive the nails out
c. : a padded device for polishing fingernails
VI. buffer transitive verb
1. : to supply with a buffer
buffered computer terminals
2. : to collect (as data) in a buffer