Meanings
- idiomaticinformalNude.
She was in the buff on the beach.
3 more examples
The streaker ran across the playing field in the buff.
Not to mention, nudity can be just plain convenient. “Laundry is minimal,” Schulte notes. It also doesn’t hurt that being in the buff spices up his workday.
2021 October 18, Ian Lecklitzner, “The Inevitable Rise of the Work-From-Home Nudist”, in MEL MagazinePrimarily because everyone is freaking out about the, er, let’s call them consequences of sharing a saddle with someone who has ridden it in the buff.
2026 June 16, “Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
adjective(used informally) completely unclothed
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From buff (“bare skin”, literally “brownish yellow”), an allusion to the color of tanned light skin.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French à poil
- à poilnude
German völlig nackig, splitterfasernackt
- völlig nackignude
- splitterfasernacktnude
Russian го́лый, наго́й
- го́лый (gólyj)nude
- наго́й (nagój)nude
- обнажённый (obnažónnyj)nude
- голышо́м (golyšóm)nude
- в чём мать родила́ (v čom matʹ rodilá)nude
Spanish en pelotas
- en pelotasnude
Cite this entry
in the buff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20buff
“in the buff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20buff. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the buff,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20buff.
Source: in the buff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.