buffet

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
buffet1 /ˈbʊfeɪ, ˈbʌfeɪ/

▶noun

• 1 a meal consisting of several dishes from which guests serve themselves.

• 2 a room or counter in a station, hotel, etc. selling light meals or snacks.

  ■ (also buffet car) Brit. a railway carriage selling light meals or snacks.

• 3 also /ˈbʌfɪt/ a piece of dining-room furniture with cupboards and open shelves for crockery.

– origin C18: from Fr., from OFr. bufet ‘stool’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
buffet2 /ˈbʌfɪt/

▶verb (buffets, buffeting, buffeted) (especially of wind or waves) strike repeatedly and violently. ▶noun

• 1 dated a blow.

• 2 Aeronautics another term for buffeting.

– origin ME: from OFr. buffeter (v.), buffet (n.), dimin. of bufe ‘a blow’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
buffet3 /ˈbʌfɪt/

▶noun Scottish & N. English a low stool or hassock.

– origin ME: from OFr. bufet, of unknown origin.