buffer

adj

Etymology: From buff + -er.

1. Comparative form of buff: more buff.

name

1. A surname

noun

Etymology: In reference to buff leather.

1. A dog.

   “Who does not remember that adorable little dog, and that last Christmas season at Olympia, when the Whimmy we had all loved had been dead a month or so, and his buffer ran disconsolately round the circus, pining […]”

verb

Etymology: Agent noun from obsolete verb buff (“make a dull sound when struck”) (mid-16c.), from Old French buffe (“blow”). The “boatswain's mate” sense is said to be popularly explained by the mate being a “buffer”, that is intermediary, between officers and men, but various other explanations have also been proposed.

1. To use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another.

   “The electronic apparatus is designed to buffer up the sorted wagons in the sidings at a speed not exceeding 4.7 m.p.h.—a particularly important provision in this yard, with its substantial traffic in whisky.”

2. To use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another.

   “Some games let you buffer jumps—if you hold the jump button mid-air, your character will jump as soon as they touch the ground.”

3. To store (data) in memory temporarily while it is awaiting processing.
4. To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.