Buffet

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbʊf.eɪ/

Definitions

1. A dining arrangement where numerous dishes are laid out for guests to serve themselves; a storage unit primarily for plates and cookware; to hit someone or something forcefully and repeatedly, often in a way that causes damage
2. A meal setup where guests select food themselves from a variety of options ; a piece of furniture used to hold dishes and cooking utensils ; to strike repeatedly with strong force, often violently
3. An eating style that allows individuals to help themselves to a range of foods ; a storage cabinet designed for kitchenware and plates ; the action of battering or hitting something multiple times

Etymology: The word has three separate lives in English, which is why it looks like one word with three meanings. The oldest is the piece of furniture: Middle English "buffet" meant a stool, borrowed from Old French, where it could also mean a side table or sideboard. The sideboard sense is the link to food, because a side table was where dishes were laid out for guests to help themselves, long before the idea of a self-service meal existed. A second, unrelated strand comes from Old French "buffet," a diminutive of "buffe," meaning a blow or slap. That gave English the verb "to buffet," meaning to strike repeatedly or push about, as in winds buffeting a ship. The root of that noun is of unknown origin, and it is cognate with Italian "buffetto," so the family is old and widespread in Romance speech. The food sense, then, grew out of the furniture rather than the blow. The pronunciation with a long "a" at the end is a modern remodelling after French, so earlier English speakers said it differently, closer to the stool's original form.

Synonyms: smorgasbord, feast, spread, banquet

Antonyms: famine, starvation