buffer

Etymology 1

noun

1. Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny).
   1. A machine with rotary brushes, passed over a hard floor to clean it.
   2. A machine for polishing shoes and boots.

adj

1. Comparative form of buff: more buff.

Etymology 2

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.

noun

1. (chemistry) A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid.
2. (computing) A portion of memory set aside to temporarily store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
3. Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another.
   1. (mechanical) Anything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.
   2. (telecommunications) A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.
   3. (rail transport) A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.
      1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, https://archive.org/details/mikadootherplays00gilb The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.
      Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed. 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 14, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998
   4. (rail transport) The metal barrier to help prevent trains from running off the end of the track.
   5. An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.
   6. (politics, international relations) A buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.
   7. (figurative) A gap that isolates or separates two things.
      An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner. Before that, England had utterly dominated to take another purposeful stride towards the 2013 European Championship in Israel. They have already established a five-point buffer at the top of Group Eight. November 10, 2011, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph
4. (UK, nautical, slang) The chief boatswain's mate.
   He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out. 2001, Mark Higgitt, Through Fire and Water, page 43
   I happen to be on the brow handing my Bosun's Mate duties over to an Ordinary Seaman when the Buffer arrives with an unofficial Side-Party to man the brow with Bosun's Calls at the ready. 2015, Peter Broadbent, A Singapore Fling: An AB's Far-Flung Adventure

verb

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. 1962 October, G. Freeman Allen, “The New Look in Scotland's Northern Division—II”, in Modern Railways, page 274
   1. (video games) To queue up (an input) so that it is performed immediately once it is possible.
      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.
2. (computing) To store data in memory temporarily.
3. (chemistry) To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

Etymology 3

noun

1. (colloquial) A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.
   Lastly, the looking-glass reflects Boots and Brewer, and two other stuffed Buffers interposed between the rest of the company and possible accidents. 1864-1865, Charles Dickens, “Book The First, chapter 2 "The Man from Somewhere"”, in Our Mutual Friend, archived from the original on 2014-01-06
   Here, too, are Boots and Brewer, and the two other Buffers; each Buffer with a flower in his button-hole, his hair curled, and his gloves buttoned on tight, apparently come prepared, if anything had happened to the bridegroom, to be married instantly. 1864-1865, Charles Dickens, “Book The First, chapter 10 "A Marriage Contract"”, in Our Mutual Friend, archived from the original on 2014-01-06