Buffing

a soft, thick, light-yellow leather with a napped surface, originally made from buffalo skin but later also from other skins, used for making belts, pouches, etc.
a brownish-yellow color; tan.
a buff stick or buff wheel.
a devotee or well-informed student of some activity or subject:
Civil War buffs avidly read the new biography of Grant.
Informal. the bare skin:
in the buff.
Also called buffcoat. a thick, short coat of buffalo leather, worn especially by English soldiers and American colonists in the 17th century.
Informal. a buffalo.
having the color of buff.
made of buff leather.
Slang. physically attractive; muscular.
to clean or polish (metal) or give a grainless finish of high luster to (plated surfaces) with or as if with a buff stick or buff wheel.
to polish or shine, especially with a buffer:
to buff shoes.
to dye or stain in a buff color.
to reduce or deaden the force of; act as a buffer.
Chiefly British Dialect. a blow; slap.
Historical Examples

Library Bookbinding Arthur Low Bailey
The Five Arrows Allan Chase
The Library of Work and Play: Home Decoration Charles Franklin Warner
Library Bookbinding Arthur Low Bailey
Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 Various
Notes on Bookbinding for Libraries John Cotton Dana
The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 Various
Leather K. J. Adcock

noun

a soft thick flexible undyed leather made chiefly from the skins of buffalo, oxen, and elk
(as modifier): a buff coat

a dull yellow or yellowish-brown colour
(as adjective): buff paint

Also called buffer

a cloth or pad of material used for polishing an object
a flexible disc or wheel impregnated with a fine abrasive for polishing metals, etc, with a power tool

(informal) one’s bare skin (esp in the phrase in the buff)
verb
to clean or polish (a metal, floor, shoes, etc) with a buff
to remove the grain surface of (a leather)
verb
(transitive) to deaden the force of
noun
(archaic) a blow or buffet (now only in the phrase blind man’s buff)
noun
(informal) an expert on or devotee of a given subject: a cheese buff
n.

The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a predominant characteristic. [N.Y. “Sun,” Feb. 4, 1903]

adj.
v.
see: in the buff