From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbufferbuff‧er1 /ˈbʌfə $ -ər/ noun [countable] 1 protectionPROTECT someone or something that protects one thing or person from being harmed by anotherbuffer against Eastern Europe was important to Russia as a buffer against the West.buffer between She often had to act as a buffer between father and son.2 railwayTTT one of the two special metal springs on the front or back of a train or at the end of a railway track, to take the shock if the train hits something3 → buffer zone4 → buffer state5 computerCOMPUTERTD a place in a computer’s memory for storing information temporarily6 personOLD/NOT YOUNG British English old-fashioned an old man who is not good at managing things He’s a nice old buffer.7 for polishingDTCLEAN something used to polish a surface8 → run into/hit the buffers
Examples from the Corpus
buffer• The U.N. forces will act as a buffer between the warring sides.• Farmers want the government to set minimum prices as a buffer against market changes.• I can tell you one thing, I won't be here to be used as a buffer.• Somehow you must organize a buffer between you and any mail delivery system.• The subsystems include texture mapping support, double buffer colour animation and hardware image processing.• All samples were assayed at a 50% dilution in immunoassay buffer and corrected for dilution after subtraction of the assay detection limit.• It depends upon many variables such as net charge, type of buffer, time, applied potential difference, etc.• Take a look at the piping detail above the buffer beam.• There'd been assumptions, hadn't there, made very happily and very easily, and they smashed into the buffers.• Recovery from this sort of error is possible by increasing the size of the buffer.• Without the buffer of the trees, the noise from the highway would be unbearable.bufferbuffer2 verb [transitive] 1 REDUCEto reduce the bad effects of something Consumer spending is buffering the effects of the recession.2 if a computer buffers information, it holds it for a short while before using it→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
buffer• A confidant and social support buffers a woman against the losses of retirement, widowhood, moves, and deaths.• Their savings helped to buffer the effects of the recession.• These are buffered to some extent by coral sand and gravel.• The resulting salt mix has a high alkalinity reserve and is well buffered with extra calcium.• Aside from buffering your water, it offers good external and internal surfaces for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.From Longman Business Dictionarybufferbuff‧er /ˈbʌfə-ər/ noun [countable]1COMPUTING a place in a computer’s memory for storing information temporarilyAny data still in the file buffer is written to the file before the file is closed.2something that protects something from unpleasant effectsMany managers raised cash as a buffer against falling stocks last year, easing their overall losses.Origin buffer1 1. (1800-1900) buff “to hit or be hit softly” ((16-19 centuries)), probably from the sound. 2. (1700-1800) Origin unknown3. (1800-1900) → BUFF2 