Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several large African and Asian ruminant mammals of the family Bovidae, such as the water buffalo and the African buffalo.
  • noun The North American bison.
  • noun The flesh of the North American bison, used as food.
  • noun Any of several North American suckers of the genus Ictiobus, having a dark body and an arched back.
  • transitive verb To intimidate or frighten, as by a display of authority.
  • transitive verb To confuse or deceive.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See buffalo-pea.
  • noun A ruminant mammal of the family Bovidæ, the best-known species of which is the Bubalus buffelus or Bos bubalus, larger than the ox and with stouter limbs, originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the eastern hemisphere.
  • noun A name given to various wild oxen, or Bovinæ, and particularly to the bison of North America, Bison americanus. See bison.
  • noun A buffalo-robe.
  • noun A buffalo-fish.
  • noun A leather hamper used for carrying bobbins.
  • noun plural [capitalized] In United States history, a name given by their opponents to those members of the Locofoco or Equal Rights party who in 1836 accepted the overtures of the regular Democratic organization (Tammany) toward a coalition.
  • noun plural A nickname given to the dwellers on the coast of North Carolina.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A species of the genus Bos or Bubalus (Bubalus bubalus), originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the eastern continent. It is larger and less docile than the common ox, and is fond of marshy places and rivers.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A very large and savage species of the same genus (Syncerus Caffer syn. Bubalus Caffer) found in South Africa; -- called also Cape buffalo.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any species of wild ox.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The bison of North America.
  • noun A buffalo robe. See Buffalo robe, below.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The buffalo fish. See Buffalofish, below.
  • noun (Bot.) a shrub of the Upper Missouri (Sherherdia argentea) with acid edible red berries.
  • noun (Zoöl.) an African bird of the genus Buphaga, of two species. These birds perch upon buffaloes and cattle, in search of parasites.
  • noun the carpet beetle. See under Carpet.
  • noun [U.S.] dry dung of the buffalo, or bison, used for fuel.
  • noun (Bot.) a kind of clover (Trifolium reflexum and Trifoliumsoloniferum) found in the ancient grazing grounds of the American bison.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a large, edible, marine fish (Ophiodon elongatus) of the northern Pacific coast; -- called also blue cod, and cultus cod.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a small dipterous insect of the genus Simulium, allied to the black fly of the North. It is often extremely abundant in the lower part of the Mississippi valley and does great injury to domestic animals, often killing large numbers of cattle and horses. In Europe the Columbatz fly is a species with similar habits.
  • noun (Bot.), [U.S.] a species of short, sweet grass (Buchloë dactyloides), from two to four inches high, covering the prairies on which the buffaloes, or bisons, feed.
  • noun (Bot.) the oily and drupelike fruit of an American shrub (Pyrularia oleifera); also, the shrub itself; oilnut.
  • noun the skin of the bison of North America, prepared with the hair on; -- much used as a lap robe in sleighs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of the Old World mammals of the family Bovidae, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo Buabalus bubalis.
  • noun A related North American animal, the American bison, Bison bison.
  • noun A buffalo robe.
  • noun The buffalo fish.
  • verb transitive To hunt buffalo.
  • verb US, slang, transitive To outwit, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.
  • verb archaic, transitive To pistol-whip.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb intimidate or overawe
  • noun meat from an American bison
  • noun any of several Old World animals resembling oxen including, e.g., water buffalo; Cape buffalo
  • noun a city on Lake Erie in western New York (near Niagara Falls)
  • noun large shaggy-haired brown bison of North American plains

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian bufalo or Portuguese or Spanish búfalo, from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, antelope, buffalo, from Greek boubalos, antelope, perhaps from bous, cow; see gwou- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Portuguese búfalo ("buffalo").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

    i.e: Bison from Buffalo, New York, who are intimidated by other bison in their community, also happen to intimidate other bison in their community

    December 28, 2006

  • You don't actually need to use the proper noun.

    December 28, 2006

  • More, in depth: Here

    September 9, 2007

  • Fascinating. That actually hurts to think about.

    September 9, 2007

  • What!What?What!What?WHAT??!!!

    What, that's not a grammatically correct sentence too?

    September 13, 2007

  • On a side note, our family took the World's Longest Road Trip to Canada when I was about eight. My sister was very worried that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't find her in Ontario, but Dad assured her that he was actually based out of Buffalo, and made trips across the border all the time.

    September 13, 2007

  • Wait...the Tooth Fairy is a guy???

    September 13, 2007

  • Negative, negative negatives negatively negate negative negative negatives.

    September 13, 2007

  • Those of us under ten were simply shocked at this revelation. The tooth fairy also drives a really bad chocolate brown van. I have no idea how he makes time for his night job with all that traffic.

    Moral of the story: Dads will say anything to make five-year olds shut up.

    September 14, 2007

  • There went my childhood.... *sniff*

    September 14, 2007

  • Introduced from Asia to Australia, though still somewhat iconic in the north.

    November 23, 2007

  • Naked greeting?

    December 13, 2009

  • Bilby: Were you talking about introduction of the buffalo or the tooth fairy?

    June 18, 2012

  • A robe used for carrying bobbins given by their opponents to those members of the coast of North Carolina.

    June 19, 2012