1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. iv. 'It is not every day we get a badger, you know. . . . Reilly the butcher has two or three capital dogs, and there's a wicked mastiff below stairs, and I'll send for my 'buffer' and we'd have some spanking sport.'
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 162. They had a dog belonging to them that would be sure to begin a quarrel with another buffer, whenever his master or mistress found a match.
2. (common.)—A man; a fellow—sometimes used with a slightly contemptuous meaning; generally speaking a familiar mode of address, as in Old Buffer, although even this form may be used disparagingly.
1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I. (1748), 23. You're a buffer always rear'd in The brutal pleasures of Bear-garden, [m.]
1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman's Dog).
So I'll merely observe, as the water grew rougher, The more my poor hero continued to suffer, Till the Sailors themselves cried, in pity, 'Poor buffer!'
1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xiv. 'I made a first-rate booby-trap, though, one day for an old yellow buffer who came in to see you.'
3. (pugilistic.)—A boxer; one of 'the fancy.' [Hotten gives this as of Irish origin, but it would rather seem to come from O.E. buff, a blow.]
1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, p. 7.
Last Tuesday, at Moulsey, the Balance of Power Was settled by twelve Tightish Rounds in an hour, The Buffers, both 'Boys of the Holy Ground.'—Ibid, p. 51:— Yet, sprightly to the Scratch both Buffers came, While ribbers rung from each resounding frame, And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt, Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt. With roving aim, but aim that rarely miss'd, Round lugs and ogles flew the frequent fist; While showers of facers told so deadly well, That the crush'd jaw-bones crackled as they fell!
4. (old.)—See quots.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Buffer, a Rogue that kills good sound Horses only for their Skins.
1737. Bacchus and Venus. Buffer, a rogue that killed good sound horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire into them.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Buffer, one that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins.
5. (old.)—One who took a false oath for a 'consideration.' Cf., Bail.
6. (old.)—A pistol. Cf., Barker.
1824. Sir W. Scott, Red Gauntlet. ch. iii. Here be a pair of buffers will bite as well as bark.
7. (old.)—A smuggler; rogue; or cheat.
8. (nautical.)—A navy term for a boatswain's mate, one of whose duties it is—or was—to administer the 'cat.' Cf., O.E. Buff, a blow.
Buff Howards, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot; now contracted into Buffs. It was nicknamed the Buff Howards, from its facings and Colonel from 1737 to 1749; also the Nut-crackers (q.v.); and the Resurrectionists (q.v.), from its re-appearing at the Battle of Albuera after being dispersed by the Polish Lancers; also the 'Old Buffs,' from its facings, and to distinguish it from the 31st, the 'Young
