[f. BUFF sb.2 2.]
1. Of the nature or appearance of buff leather.
a. 1695. Mrq. Halifax, On C’tess Dowager of —— (R.). This goodly goose … did overload Her bald buff forehead with a high commode.
b. fig. (from BUFF sb.2 3). Naked, unrefined.
1792. W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 29 (1794), I. 410. On that plain buff principle of old English hospitality.
2. Of the color of buff leather; a light brownish yellow.
(Early quots. are doubtful, and may mean the material.)
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 69, note. The dress is that of a Cavalier about the time of the civil war, buff with blue ribbands.
1791. J. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ode to Ass, Wks. 1812, II. 462. Buff breeches too have crown’d a proud proud day.
1804. Med. & Phys. Jrnl., XII. 512. Pileus brown buff, darker in the centre.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 419/2. The buffed coat … is generally … of a light yellow or buff colour.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., I. 108. The … old-fashioned Staffordshire tea service … blue flowers on a buff ground.
3. Comb., as buff-backed, -colo(u)r, -colo(u)red, -orange, -washed, yellow; buff-tip, a species of moth (see quot.).
1884. J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 264. The pretty little *buff-backed heron.
1794. Stedman, Surinam (1813), II. xxiv. 220. The musk [melon] … is ribbed, *buff color, orange and green.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2106/4. A … Red Coat … with a *Buff-colour’d lining.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 282. From dead plants [Fucaceæ] cold fresh-water extracts a buff-coloured substance.
1882. Garden, 2 Sept., 202/1. A charming hardy Orchid…. It is a *buff-orange colour.
1836. Duncan, Brit. Moths, 187. Pygæra Bucephala … named the *Buff-tip Moth, on account of a large patch of that colour on the apex of the anterior wings.
1883. Miss Braddon, Gold. Calf, xii. 150. The walls plastered, and white-washed, or *buff-washed.
1882. Garden, 5 Aug., 110/1. Seedling *buff-yellow Carnation.
4. Substantival uses of this adj. are for convenience treated under BUFF sb.2 III.
