buffer

Meanings

Noun

• Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny).
• A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid.
• A portion of memory set aside to store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
• Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another.
• The chief bosun's mate.
• A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.

Adjective

• Comparative form or more of buff.

Verb

• To use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another.
• To store data in memory temporarily.
• To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

Origin

• Agent noun from obsolete verb buff (mid-16c.), from Old French buffe ("blow").
• The "bosun'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.