buffer

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
buffer1

▶noun

• 1 (buffers) Brit. a pair of shock-absorbing pistons projecting from a cross-beam at the end of a railway track or on a railway vehicle.

• 2 a person or thing that reduces a shock or forms a barrier between adversaries.

• 3 (also buffer solution) Chemistry a solution which resists changes in pH when acid or alkali is added to it.

• 4 Computing a temporary memory area or queue used when creating or editing text, or when transferring data.

▶verb

• 1 lessen or moderate the impact of.

• 2 treat with a chemical buffer.

– origin C19: prob. from obs. buff (v.), imitative of the sound of a blow to a soft body.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
buffer2

▶noun Brit. informal a foolishly old-fashioned or incompetent elderly man.

– origin C18: prob. from obs. buff (see buffer1), or from dial. buff ‘stutter, splutter’.