Buffet Meaning
/ˈbʊf.eɪ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought.
nounFood laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves.
Sentence Examples
Two for the lunch buffet, please.
The buffet or the cafeteria is in Car 9.
Could you show me what you're serving in the buffet?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The strong winds will ____ the small boat as it crosses the open water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We enjoyed a delicious ____ dinner with many types of food tonight.
Word Origin & History
Inherited from Middle English buffet (“stool”), from Middle French buffet (“side table”), from Old French buffet, of unknown origin. The modern pronunciation is remodelled after modern French buffet.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups."
— 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 9:
""We got a big buffet coming up soon. Bacon, eggs, fresh fruit you wouldn't believe.""
— 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 312:
"On his cheek a buffet fell."
— 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
"Kipper stood blinking, as I had sometimes seen him do at the boxing tourneys in which he indulged when in receipt of a shrewd buffet on some tender spot like the tip of the nose."
— 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII and XIV:
"The aircraft configuration was such that there was little or no warning of the stall onset. The inboard slats were extended, and therefore, the flow separation from the stall would be limited to the outboard segment of the left wing and would not be felt by the left horizontal stabilizer. There would be little or no buffet. The DFDR also indicated that there was some turbulence, which could have masked any aerodynamic buffeting. Since the roll to the left began at V₂ + 6 and since the pilots were aware that V₂ was well above the aircraft's stall speed, they probably did not suspect that the roll to the left indicated a stall. In fact, the roll probably confused them, especially since the stickshaker had not activated."
— 1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “Aircraft and Flightcrew Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2022, page 54:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The strong winds will ____ the small boat as it crosses the open water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We enjoyed a delicious ____ dinner with many types of food tonight.