BUFFING

Verb

buffing

present participle of buff

Noun

buffing (plural buffings)

Material removed by the action of someone who buffs.

the burning machine for blowing dirt and buffings off the work

Source: Wiktionary

BUFF

Buff, n. Etym: [OE. buff, buffe, buff, buffalo, F. buffle buffalo. See Buffalo.]

1. A sort of leather, prepared from the skin of the buffalo, dressed with oil, like chamois; also, the skins of oxen, elks, and other animals, dressed in like manner. "A suit of buff." Shak.

2. The color to buff; a light yellow, shading toward pink, gray, or brown. A visage rough, Deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff. Dryden.

3. A military coat, made of buff leather. Shak.

4. (Med.)

Definition: The grayish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat. See Buffy coat, under Buffy, a.

5. (Mech.)

Definition: A wheel covered with buff leather, and used in polishing cutlery, spoons, etc.

6. The bare skin; as, to strip to the buff. [Colloq.] To be in buff is equivalent to being naked. Wright.

Buff, a.

1. Made of buff leather. Goldsmith.

2. Of the color of buff. Buff coat, a close, military outer garment, with short sleeves, and laced tightly over the chest, made of buffalo skin, or other thick and elastic material, worn by soldiers in the 17th century as a defensive covering.

– Buff jerkin, originally, a leather waistcoat; afterward, one of cloth of a buff color. [Obs.] Nares.

– Buff stick (Mech.), a strip of wood covered with buff leather, used in polishing.

Buff, v. t.

Definition: To polish with a buff. See Buff, n., 5.

Buff, v. t. Etym: [OF. bufer to cuff, buffet. See Buffet a blow.]

Definition: To strike. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Buff, n. Etym: [See Buffet.]

Definition: A buffet; a blow; -- obsolete except in the phrase "Blindman's buff." Nathless so sore a buff to him it lent That made him reel. Spenser.

Buff, a. Etym: [Of uncertain etymol.]

Definition: Firm; sturdy. And for the good old cause stood buff, 'Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff. Hudibras.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition