Buffet v.

Pa. t. and pple. -eted. [f. BUFFER sb.¹; but cf. OF. buffeter in same sense.]

  1.  trans. To beat, strike, esp. with the hand; to thump, cuff, knock about.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 106. Te Giws … buffeteden him [Christ].

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXIII. 191. He boffatede me a-boute þe mouthe.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 259. When he was buffetted & beten for vs.

1692.  Bentley, Boyle Lect., ii. 63. They must be bang’d and buffeted into Reason.

1748.  Anson, Voy., I. iii. (ed. 4), 30. What we … experienced … when buffetted by the same storms.

1826.  Scott, Woodst., iv. Cut a crow’s wing, or break its leg, the others will buffet it to death.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxvii. (1856), 337. I … buffeted my armpits until my fingers tingled.

  b.  To beat back, contend with (waves, etc.).

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 107. The Torrent roar’d, and we did buffet it With lusty Sinewes.

1791.  Cowper, Odyss., VIII. 224. Buffeting the boisterous waves.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxviii. (1856), 348. I had buffeted the elements quite long enough to content me.

  c.  fig.

a. 1593.  H. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 212. Our sins buffet God on every side.

1678.  R. Barclay, Apol. Quakers, II. § 13. 57. [They] are continually buffeting one another with the Scripture.

a. 1884.  M. Pattison, Mem., 49. I felt humiliated and buffeted.

  2.  intr. To deal blows, fight, contend, struggle.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 146. If I might buffet for my Loue.

1839.  Marryat, Phant. Ship, ix. She was … buffeting in a violent gale.

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, IV. 167. Strove to buffet to land in vain.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., xi. They buffet with opposing waves.

  b.  fig.

1824.  W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 33. To see so delicate … a being buffet so resolutely with hardships.

1842.  Tennyson, Gold. Year, 76. I heard them blast The steep slate-quarry, and the great echo flap And buffet round the hills.

  3.  trans. To drive, force, or produce, by buffeting.

1734.  Watts, Reliq. Juv. (1789), 118. The soul of a man … is not to be buffetted into softness.

1865.  Parkman, Huguenots, vi. (1875), 80. He buffeted his way to riches and fame.

1872.  B. Harte, Right Eye of Commander. He felt the salt breath of the distant sea buffet a color into his smoke-dried cheeks.

  4.  trans. To muffle (bells). [Perhaps a distinct word; cf. buff-stop in BUFF sb.² 9, also BUFFER².]

1753.  Art Ringing, 200 (L.). Buffeting the bells, that is, by tying pieces of leather, old hat, or any other thing that is pretty thick, round the ball of the clapper of each bell.