Buffalo

//ˈbʌf.əl.əʊ// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A placename; A major city, the county seat of Erie County, New York, USA; very near Niagara Falls.

    "And in yet another deadly mass shooting, unfolding in Buffalo on Saturday, a heavily armed white man is accused of killing 10 people after targeting a supermarket on the city’s predominantly Black east side, writing in a lengthy screed posted online that the shoppers there came from a culture that sought to “ethnically replace my own people.”"

  2. 2
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A small city in Scott County, Iowa.
  3. 3
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A city, the county seat of Wright County, Minnesota.
  4. 4
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Missouri.
  5. 5
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A town, the county seat of Harper County, Oklahoma.
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  1. 6
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A census-designated place in Union County, South Carolina.
  2. 7
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A town, the county seat of Harding County, South Dakota.
  3. 8
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A small city in Leon County, Texas.
  4. 9
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A town in Putnam County, West Virginia.
  5. 10
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A town in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, not to be confused with Buffalo City in the same county.
  6. 11
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A town in Marquette County, Wisconsin.
  7. 12
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A city, the county seat of Johnson County, Wyoming.
  8. 13
    A placename; A number of other places in the United States, including:; A number of townships, including in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, listed under Buffalo Township.
  9. 14
    A placename; A number of places in South Africa.
  10. 15
    A placename; A town in South Gippsland Shire, south eastern Victoria, Australia.
  11. 16
    A placename; Ellipsis of Buffalo City. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  12. 17
    A placename; Ellipsis of Buffalo County. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  13. 18
    A placename; Ellipsis of Buffalo River. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  14. 19
    A placename; Ellipsis of Buffalo Township. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Noun
  1. 1
    An animal from the subtribe Bubalina, also known as true buffalos, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.

    ""It must be a very wild stretch of country, and full of big game. I have always wanted to kill a buffalo before I die.""

  2. 2
    any of several Old World animals resembling oxen including, e.g., water buffalo, Cape buffalo wordnet
  3. 3
    A related North American animal, the American bison, Bison bison.
  4. 4
    large shaggy-haired brown bison of North American plains wordnet
  5. 5
    Ellipsis of buffalo robe. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
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  1. 6
    meat from an American bison wordnet
  2. 7
    The buffalo fish (Ictiobus spp.).
  3. 8
    A nickel. US, slang
  4. 9
    A looter during the Civil War. US, historical, slang
  5. 10
    A large or stupid person. derogatory, slang
  6. 11
    An obese person, usually a woman. derogatory, slang
  7. 12
    A black male. derogatory, offensive, slang
  8. 13
    Ellipsis of American buffalo (“gold bullion coin”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Verb
  1. 1
    To hunt buffalo. transitive
  2. 2
    intimidate or overawe wordnet
  3. 3
    To outwit, confuse, deceive, or intimidate. US, slang, transitive

    "I'm just gonna let you have it. Probably in the midst of a kiss. Right when you think everything’s been healed up. Right in the moment when you're sure you've got me buffaloed. That's when you'll die."

  4. 4
    To pistol-whip. archaic, transitive

    "Whereupon the twelve-inch barrel of the Buntline Special was laid alongside and just underneath the Rachal hatbrim most effectively. The buffaloed cattleman dropped to the walk, unconscious."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish búfalo (“buffalo”), from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope, wild ox”). Doublet of bubale and buffle.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish búfalo (“buffalo”), from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope, wild ox”). Doublet of bubale and buffle.

Etymology 3

*(North America): Probably from buffalo (“American bison”) (Bison bison), since both cities are in regions that had wild herds at the time the names originated. Buffalo, New York was named after the Buffalo River, which an alternative etymology says is from French beau fleuve (“beautiful river”), but the more likely explanation is that it was named for the animal. *(South Africa): From buffalo (Syncerus caffer), subsp. Cape buffalo commonly found in the region.

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