buffer

plural buffers

1. Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny).
   1. A machine with rotary brushes, passed over a hard floor to clean it.
   2. A machine for polishing shoes and boots.
2. IrelandarchaicslangA boxer.

   Such a buffer as Donnelly, / Ereland never again will see.

   1821, Pierce Egan (the Elder), Boxiana; or, Sketches of antient and modern pugilism (page 117)

1. comparativeComparative form of buff: more buff.

plural buffers

1. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another.
   1. chemistryA solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid, such as by resisting a change in pH when an acid or alkali is added.
   2. engineeringAnything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.
   3. rail transportA device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.

      1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, https://archive.org/details/mikadootherplays00gilb The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.

      2 more examples

      The underframe, which has been designed to take buffing loads of 200 tons both on the centre coupler and on the retractable side buffers, consists of two centre girders from which cantilevers project to support the solebars, which in turn carry the bodyside structure.

      1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 327

      Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed.

      1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 14, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998

   4. rail transportThe barrier placed at the end of the track to absorb the impact of a train that fails to stop.

      1 more example

      Of course, I was not always right. I questioned the value of Crossrail (a scheme revived by Prescott after being scrapped by the Conservatives), suggesting wrongly that it may be "doomed to hit the buffers" […]. A dozen years later, I published my book on it, extolling the line's wonders. We are all allowed to change our minds.

      2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61

   5. An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.
   6. communicationsA routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.
   7. computerA portion of memory set aside to temporarily store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
   8. international relationsgovernmentA buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.
   9. businessA means, often normally idle inventory, used as a cushion against fluctuations in business, especially in the supply or demand for goods.
   10. businessA reserve of funds set aside for use only when adverse circumstances prevail.

       I keep a savings buffer of three months' worth of living expenses.

   11. figurativelyA gap that isolates or separates two things.

       1 more example

       An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner. Before that, England had utterly dominated to take another purposeful stride towards the 2013 European Championship in Israel. They have already established a five-point buffer at the top of Group Eight.

       2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph

2. UKslangnauticalThe chief boatswain's mate.

   He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out.

   2001, Mark Higgitt, Through Fire and Water, page 43

   1 more example

   I happen to be on the brow handing my Bosun's Mate duties over to an Ordinary Seaman when the Buffer arrives with an unofficial Side-Party to man the brow with Bosun's Calls at the ready.

   2015, Peter Broadbent, A Singapore Fling: An AB's Far-Flung Adventure

present singular third person buffers · participle present buffering · participle past buffered · past buffered

1. To use a buffer or buffers; to attempt to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing or another.

   The electronic apparatus is designed to buffer up the sorted wagons in the sidings at a speed not exceeding 4.7 m.p.h.—a particularly important provision in this yard, with its substantial traffic in whisky.

   1962 October, G. Freeman Allen, “The New Look in Scotland's Northern Division—II”, in Modern Railways, page 274

   1. video gamesTo queue up (an input) so that it is performed immediately once it is possible.

      Some games let you buffer jumps—if you hold the jump button mid-air, your character will jump as soon as they touch the ground.

2. intransitivetransitivecomputingTo store (data) in memory temporarily while it is awaiting processing.
3. chemistryTo maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

plural buffers

1. colloquialA good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.

   I can’t expect two youngsters like you to find it much fun talking to an old buffer like me.

   1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew, London: The Bodley Head, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Lastly, the looking-glass reflects Boots and Brewer, and two other stuffed Buffers interposed between the rest of the company and possible accidents.

   1864-1865, Charles Dickens, “Book The First, chapter 2 "The Man from Somewhere"”, in Our Mutual Friend, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2014

   Here, too, are Boots and Brewer, and the two other Buffers; each Buffer with a flower in his button-hole, his hair curled, and his gloves buttoned on tight, apparently come prepared, if anything had happened to the bridegroom, to be married instantly.

   1864-1865, Charles Dickens, “Book The First, chapter 10 "A Marriage Contract"”, in Our Mutual Friend, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2014

plural buffers

1. UKdatedslangA dog.

   Who does not remember that adorable little dog, and that last Christmas season at Olympia, when the Whimmy we had all loved had been dead a month or so, and his buffer ran disconsolately round the circus, pining […]

   1934, The Sawdust Ring, page 27

plural Buffers

1. A surname