buffalo
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Buf·fa·lo
(bŭf′ə-lō′) A city of western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie on the Canadian border. It is a major Great Lakes port of entry and an important manufacturing and milling center.
Buf′fa·lo′ni·an adj. & n.
buf·fa·lo
(bŭf′ə-lō′)n. pl. buffalo or buf·fa·loes or buf·fa·los
1.
a. Any of several large African and Asian ruminant mammals of the family Bovidae, such as the water buffalo and the African buffalo.
b. The North American bison.
c. The flesh of the North American bison, used as food.
2. Any of several North American suckers of the genus Ictiobus, having a dark body and an arched back. Also called buffalo fish.
tr.v. buf·fa·loed, buf·fa·lo·ing, buf·fa·loes
1. To intimidate or frighten, as by a display of authority: "The board couldn't buffalo the federal courts as it had the Comptroller" (American Banker).
2. To confuse or deceive: "Too often ... job seekers have buffaloed lenders as to their competency and training" (H. Jane Lehman).
[Italian bufalo or Portuguese or Spanish búfalo, from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, antelope, buffalo, from Greek boubalos, antelope, perhaps from bous, cow; see gwou- in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: When most Americans hear the word buffalo, they probably think of the American bison. In fact, buffalo originally referred to the water buffalo (an animal that was introduced to western Europe from Asia in late antiquity) and other large bovid animals of Eurasia and Africa. The history of buffalo begins with the Greek word boubalos, "antelope." The Romans borrowed this word as būbalus, "antelope." In his work on natural history, however, the Roman author Pliny the Elder notes that the common people used būbalus to refer to the urus, the huge wild ox (now extinct) that once roamed northern Europe, and Pliny considered this to be a mistake. Eventually the Latin word, in its Late Latin form būfalus, became the name for the water buffalo when it was introduced to Europe. Būfalus developed into buffalo in Italian and búfalo in Portuguese and Spanish, and then English borrowed buffalo, with the sense "any of various species of large bovine animals," from one or more of these languages. How did the word buffalo come to be the popular name for the American bison? When the English first began to visit and settle in North America, it is likely that most of them had never seen the European bison, or wisent, the closest relative of the American bison. The wisent had mostly vanished from western Europe in the Middle Ages, the victim of hunting and deforestation. The English were probably much more familiar with domestic water buffalo, and they may even have heard of the urus, and so when they encountered the American bison, many of them called it by the name of the largest bovine animal they had known before, the buffalo. Already in 1625, English writers were using buffalo to describe the bison of America.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
buffalo
(ˈbʌfəˌləʊ)n, pl -loes or -lo
1. (Animals) Also called: Cape buffalo a member of the cattle tribe, Syncerus caffer, mostly found in game reserves in southern and eastern Africa and having upward-curving horns
2. (Animals) short for water buffalo
3. (Animals) Also called: bison US and Canadian a member of the cattle tribe, Bison bison, formerly widely distributed over the prairies of W North America but now confined to reserves and parks, with a massive head, shaggy forequarters, and a humped back.
vb (tr)
4. (often passive) to confuse
5. to intimidate
[C16: from Italian bufalo, from Late Latin būfalus, alteration of Latin būbalus; see bubal]
Buffalo
(ˈbʌfəˌləʊ)n
(Placename) a port in W New York State, at the E end of Lake Erie. Pop: 285 018 (2003 est)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
buf•fa•lo
(ˈbʌf əˌloʊ)n., pl. -loes, -los, (esp. collectively) -lo, n.
1. any of several large wild oxen of the family Bovidae, as the bison or water buffalo.
2. a buffalofish.
v.t. Informal. 3. to puzzle or baffle; confuse.
4. to intimidate by a display of power, importance, etc.
adj. 5. patterned in buffalo plaid.
[1535–45; < Portuguese bufalo < Late Latin būfalus, variant of Latin būbalus < Greek boúbalos]
Buf•fa•lo
(ˈbʌf əˌloʊ)n.
a port in W New York, on Lake Erie. 310,548.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
buffalo
Past participle: buffaloed
Gerund: buffaloing
Imperative |
---|
buffalo |
buffalo |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Noun | 1. | buffalo - large shaggy-haired brown bison of North American plains genus Bison - sometimes considered a subgenus of genus Bos: American buffalo bison - any of several large humped bovids having shaggy manes and large heads and short horns buffalo - meat from an American bison |
2. | Buffalo - a city on Lake Erie in western New York (near Niagara Falls) | |
3. | buffalo - meat from an American bison American bison, American buffalo, Bison bison, buffalo - large shaggy-haired brown bison of North American plains game - the flesh of wild animals that is used for food | |
4. | buffalo - any of several Old World animals resembling oxen including, e.g., water buffalo; Cape buffalo Bovidae, family Bovidae - true antelopes; cattle; oxen; sheep; goats bovid - hollow-horned ruminants Asiatic buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, water buffalo, water ox - an Asian buffalo that is often domesticated for use as a draft animal Anoa mindorensis, Bubalus mindorensis, tamarao, tamarau - small buffalo of Mindoro in the Philippines Cape buffalo, Synercus caffer - large often savage buffalo of southern Africa having upward-curving horns; mostly in game reserves | |
Verb | 1. | buffalo - intimidate or overawe |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
buffalo
nounRelated words
collective noun herd
collective noun herd
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
ثَوْر امريكيجاموس، ثَوْرجاموسَة
биволбизон
buvolbizon
bøffelbisonbisonokse
piison
puhvelibiisoni
bivol
bivalybölény
buffallvísundur
bufalobison
水牛
버팔로
buivolas
bifelisbizons
bøffelbison
bawółbizonpolować na bawoły
byvol
bivolbizon
buffelbisonoxe
กระบือ
бізонбуйвол
con trâu
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
buffalo
n pl <-es>, collective pl <-> → Büffel m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
buffalo
(ˈbafələu) – plurals ˈbuffalo ~ˈbuffalo(e)s – noun1. a large kind of ox, especially the Asian and African varieties.
2. the American variety of ox; the bison.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
buffalo
→ جاموسَة buvol bøffel Büffel βούβαλος búfalo puhveli buffle bivol bufalo 水牛 버팔로 bizon bøffel bawół búfalo бизон buffel กระบือ bufalo con trâu 水牛Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009