1709. Brit. Apollo, II, No. 8, p. 3, col. 2. Tell me Grave Buffs,
Partly Gods, partly men. [M.]
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in
familiar Salutation as, How dost do, my Buff?
1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, ch. iv., p. 15. Mayhaps old buff
has left my kinsman here his heir.
1764. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), II., 420. You seem afraid
these buffs will flinch.
Buff it, verb (common).—1. To swear to; to adhere to a statement hard
and fast; to stand firm. [Query from ‘to bluff.’] To buff it is
sometimes enlarged—to buff it home.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or
thing, is to swear to the identity of them.
1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Buffing it home is swearing
point-blank to anything, about the same as bluffing it, making a
bold stand on no backing.