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 Buffs’; but the most ancient ‘Old Buffs’ were the ‘Duke of York
and Albany’s Maritime Regiments,’ raised in 1664, and incorporated into
the 2nd or Coldstream Guards in 1689.
1886. Tinsley’s Mag., ‘Our Regimental Mottoes and Nicknames,’
April, p. 319. The Buffs—a corps which enjoys the almost unique
privilege of marching through the city of London with bayonets
fixed. The 3rd Foot owes its immortal cognomen to the fact of its
having originally been clad in scarlet, lined and faced with buff;
its members also had buff waistcoats, buff breeches, and buff
stockings. Being the senior regiment thus clothed, they were
occasionally styled the ‘Old Buffs’; and the 31st, raised in 1702,
and dressed in a precisely similar fashion, were known as the Young
Buffs. The following tradition, however, offers a more
circumstantial account of the latter appellation. Having earned in
some hotly-contested action, the good opinion of a general under
whom they were serving, and who expressed his approbation by
calling out to the 31st, ‘Well done, Old Buffs!’ A few of the men,
somewhat excited by close combat, replied, ‘We are not the Old
Buffs, Sir.’ Whereupon the general cried, ‘Then well done, Young
Buffs!’ And so the ‘Young Buffs’ they became, and have since
remained, although the days of buff waistcoats and stockings have
long passed away.
Buffle, subs. (old).—A fool; a stupid person. Cf., Buffle-head and
Buff, sense 2. Murray quotes it as occurring in 1655, but the term is,
as will be seen, nearly a century older. [After French buffle.] For
synonymous terms, see following:—
English Synonyms. Buffle-head; Sammy-soft, often contracted into Sammy;
sheep’s head; crock (the original meaning is rather concerned with a
slow worthless horse, but in sporting phraseology it has also come to
mean a foolish, good-for-nothing person); duffer; dotty (also used by
prostitutes of a low class to designate their protector or fancy man);
cuckoo; calf; cabbage-head; cake; block; greenhorn; old curmudgeon;
doddering old sheep’s head.
French Synonyms. Un échappé de Charenton (échapper = to escape;
Charenton is the name of a lunatic asylum in Paris; hence one escaped
from Charenton. Cf., English colloquial use of the names of Hanwell,
Colney Hatch, and Bedlam in describing idiotic or foolish conversation
or behaviour); échappé d’Herode (Cf., foregoing); un vieil embaumé
(this term is applied to a foolish person well advanced in years; an
old curmudgeon); un actionnaire (literary: properly a shareholder).
German Synonyms. Amhorez (literally a countryman; from Hebrew om, the
people, + erez, country); Blechseppel (a soldier’s term); Chammer (a
butcher’s or knacker’s word; it also signifies a donkey, and is derived
from the Hebrew chamor); Dilmisch, Dilledapp, Dilldapp, Dilledali,
Dellemelle, Dirledapp, Didel, Tatidel, Dudeldop, Dilldan (all these are
popular expressions for a stupid fellow. Cf., dildalfen = to exhaust);
Ewil (from the Hebrew owal; the term also stands for a sinner);
Godeschaute (a great fool, a perfect fool; from the Hebrew godol,
great, strong, celebrated, + schoto, a fool); Gomol (used only as a
nickname; from the Hebrew gamal, a camel); Hanne or Hannes (a shortened
form of Johannes, the German for the English John; it is curious that
in both languages the nicknames Hanne and Jack should, as applied to
men, always be used depreciatingly, see Jack); Harbogen, Hornickel,
Hornigel (besides signifying a fool or weak-headed one, these words are
used to designate an ox; they are employed indiscriminately); Heckel,
Häckel, Hegel (also a fop; heckeln = to fool anyone, probably from
hacken or hecheln, to hew, to hackle); Koppel (a diminutive of Jacob;
sometimes written Jockel); Ksil (from the Hebrew kossal; variations in
spelling are Kessil, Kessel, and in students’ slang Theekessel);
Nebbich or Newich (among thieves employed to designate the clumsy,
stupid fellow who is only entrusted with unimportant tasks connected
with a robbery, such for instance as holding the sacks in which the
stolen property is placed, or in carrying off the plunder); Nille or
Knolle or Nolle (these terms are used to signify a fool, jester, or the
male penis); Nowel or Newil or Nebel (also a cunning fellow, a rogue or
‘sly blade’; das ist ein Newele, the equivalent of the Low German dat
is een Aas vun Kêrl might be rendered by the English ‘he is a devil of
a fellow’); Oochbram or Ogbrôm (a fool or rather one whose craziness
resembles in extent the traditional stature of Og, King of Bashan—at
least authorities agree in thinking this the most likely derivation of
the word. Among the Jews Og is taken as an image of gigantic size. When
the Israelites advanced on Edrëi, Og sat on the wall of the town, and
his feet reached to the ground, so that Moses at first thought he was
part of the wall, but when he discovered that it was a man he was
seized with terror. Rum = on high, therefore Og b’rum = the [great] Og
on high. Er hat die Grösse von Og Melech haboschon, he has the size of
Og, King of Bashan. A corresponding expression is found in the Low
German, de lange Rick, i.e., a tall, slenderly built fellow); Schote or
Schaute or Schotte (from the Hebrew schoto; used especially of one who
can be cheated or robbed with his eyes open; a tradesman or money
changer who can be robbed while transacting business at the counter or
while exchanging money); Sonof (a Hebrew word signifying properly a
tail, and mostly used proverbially of things low and contemptible. It
is also employed to designate the male penis; the German Gaunerspräche
offers frequent examples in which contemptible names are also used
synonymously for the male and female organs of generation).
Italian Synonyms. Fiadetto (besides its meaning of a dolt or duffer,
this term is also applied to a thief, rogue, or indeed a villain of any
description); ribeba or ribecca (a goose or simpleton; properly a
violin or Jewish harp); cordovano (this also means in the Fourbesque, a
big man; properly it is the name of Morocco or Spanish leather);
furlana; marietta or marietto (a dolt or dunce).
Spanish Synonym. Dupa (Cf., English dupe).
1580. Beehive of the Romish Churche, fo. 66 b. An unlearned buffle
did babble.
1655. Comic Hist. Francion, iv., 22. He said to the three buffles
who stood with their hats in their hands. Tell me you Waggs, etc.
[M.].
1710. Pol. Ballads (1860), II., 90. To see the chief attorney such
a buffle.
Buffle-Head, subs. (old).—An ignoramus; a stupid obtuse fellow. Cf.,
Buffle, and which see for synonyms.
1659. Lady Alimony, I., ii., in Hazl. Dodsley, xiv., 278. What a
drolling buffle-head is this!
1663. Pepys, Diary, March 17. But my Lord Mayor a talking,
bragging, buffle-headed fellow.
1668. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 29. He tells me that Townsend, of the
Wardrobe, is the veriest knave and buffle-head that ever he saw.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act ii. Oliv. You know nothing, you
buffle-headed stupid creature you.
1686. D’Urfey, Commonwealth of Women, I., i. A damn’d huffing
fellow yonder, a Rebel, Whiggy buffle-head.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Buffle-head, an ignoramus, or
dull sot.
1887. Dead Man’s Rock, bk. I., ch. v. ‘Jonathan’s a buffle-head ...
a daft fule like Jonathan.’
Buffleheaded, adj. (old).—Stupid; idiotic; foolish. [From bufflehead, a
foolish fellow (q.v.), + ed.]
1883. Baring Gould, John Herring, vol. II., ch. xxv., p. 275.
(Tauchnitz ed.) ‘A buffleheaded sort of a chap,’ said Joyce.
Buffs, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot in the British
army. From their facings.—See Buff Howards.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. England, I., 295. The third regiment,
distinguished by flesh-coloured facings, from which it derived the
well-known name of the Buffs.
1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 232. His father
was a captain in the Buffs, and himself a commissioned officer at
seventeen.
1874. Saturday Review, p. 95. This regiment [the First or Grenadier
Guards] has almost the longest record of any in the service, only
yielding, we believe, to the 1st Royals, and to the 3rd Buffs,
which were originally raised for the service of the States-General
of Holland.
Buffy, adj. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Screwed.
1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 85. Flexor was fine and buffy
when he came home last night, after you was gone, sir.
1872. Besant and Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, ch. xlii. ‘My ideas take me
first of all unawares. They generally begin, like a toothache, when
I least expect them. Perhaps when I feel a little buffy, in the
morning; mayhap, after an extra go of grog the night before. Then
one comes all of a sudden.’
Bug, subs. (thieves’).—1. A breast pin.
2. (Old Irish.)—A jeering name for an Englishman—Grose says ‘because
bugs were introduced into Ireland by Englishmen!!’
3. (American.)—The term bug is, in the United States, not confined
merely, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all
insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country
are generally called beetles. The English bug (Cimex lectularius) is,
in the Southern States, known as the chinch. It may be mentioned,
however, that at Winchester College a usage akin to that prevailing in
America exists. There a bug merely means an insect, whether belonging
to the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, or any other order. Synonyms for the
English domestic pest will be found under Norfolk Howards.
1642. Rogers, Naaman the Syrian, 74. Do not all as much and more
wonder at God’s rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that
creeps.
1888. Grass Valley (Cal.) Tidings. Entomology, or bugology, is now
taught to some extent in our public schools. This is well, and is
of use. The children ought to learn about the bugs that are
destructive to useful vegetation. It is better to learn much about
bugs than so much about how to solve those arithmetical problems
that will never face anybody in the practical affairs of life.
1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, March. The Insane Asylum Board some time
ago discontinued a bug-killer’s employment, and the doctor avers
that the old hospital building is swarming with cockroaches, and
that these bugs will soon be large and fat enough to carry out the
inmates and take their food and clothes.
4. (American.)—Bug is also used idiomatically in various combinations,
as big bugs (q.v.), a jocose and vulgar name for persons of wealth or
distinction. Thence, similarly, cattle-bugs, that is, wealthy
stock-raisers; gold-bugs, or monied men, etc.
1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and
big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies. Ibid, p. 24. Pick out
the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.
1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 5. ‘Would Senator Allison’s
well-known views on silver coinage operate materially against him
in New York.’ ‘I think not; I do not think the feeling against
silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few
gold-bugs might fight him, but any of the men I have mentioned are
reasonably certain to carry New York.’
That beats the bugs, phr. (American).—A phrase conveying a high mead of
praise; ‘that beats cock-fighting.’
Verb (old).—1. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the
exchanging some of the dearest materials of which a hat is made for
others of less value. Hats are composed of the furs and wools of
diverse animals, among which is a small portion of bever’s fur. Bugging
is stealing the bever, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal weight
of some cheaper ingredient. Bailiffs who take money to postpone or
refrain the serving of a writ, are said to bug the writ.—Grose.
2. (thieves’.)—To bribe. In old slang, bailiffs accepting money to
delay service were said to bug the writ.