Sekirov Dictionary

buffer

UK /ˈbʌfə/US /ˈbʌfəɹ/

noun 19
verb 4
forms 3
phrases 1

noun19

Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another.
A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid, such as by resisting a change in pH when an acid or alkali is added.
Anything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.
•
A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.
- The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains. — 1885
The barrier placed at the end of the track to absorb the impact of a train that fails to stop.
A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.
A portion of memory set aside to temporarily store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
A means, often normally idle inventory, used as a cushion against fluctuations in business, especially in the supply or demand for goods.
•
A reserve of funds set aside for use only when adverse circumstances prevail.
- I keep a savings buffer of three months' worth of living expenses.
A buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.
(figurative) A gap that isolates or separates two things.
Someone or something that buffs (polishes and makes shiny).
A machine with rotary brushes, passed over a hard floor to clean it.
A machine for polishing shoes and boots.
An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.
•
(informal) A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.
- Lastly, the looking-glass reflects Boots and Brewer, and two other stuffed Buffers interposed between the rest of the company and possible accidents. — 1864
•
(UK, slang) The chief boatswain's mate.
- He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out. — 2001
(slang, old-fashioned) A dog.
•
(slang, no longer used) A boxer.
- Such a buffer as Donnelly, / Ereland never again will see. — 1821

verb4

To use a buffer or buffers; to attempt to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing or another.
•
To queue up (an input) so that it is performed immediately once it is possible.
- Some games let you buffer jumps—if you hold the jump button mid-air, your character will jump as soon as they touch the ground.
To store (data) in memory temporarily while it is awaiting processing.
To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

forms

buffered · buffering · buffers

Phrases with buffer

buffer up
To move (a rail vehicle) so that its buffers are touching the buffers of another rail vehicle.

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