Buffets

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An arrangement of various food items set out for guests to serve themselves freely
2. A dining style where multiple dishes are presented for patrons to select and help themselves
3. A setup where a variety of dishes are laid out for guests to choose and serve themselves at leisure

Etymology: "Buffets" is the third-person singular form of the verb "buffet," which means to strike or knock repeatedly, most often with the hands or against the wind or waves. The verb grew from the noun "buffet," a blow, which in Old French was a diminutive of "buffe," a word of uncertain origin. That gives the strike sense a sound, slapping quality that goes back to the earliest English uses. The dining sense comes from an entirely different branch. Middle English "buffet" meant a stool, and in Middle French the same word came to mean a side table or sideboard, the piece of furniture where food and dishes were set out. Serving meals from a sideboard, so that guests helped themselves, gave the word its modern meaning of a spread of many dishes from which diners choose. The two senses are unrelated, which is why a word meaning "to hit" and a word meaning "a table of food" share a spelling.

Synonyms: feasts, banquets

Antonyms: famine