Dictionary entry

Buffet (4)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Buf″fet, v. i. 1. To exercise or play at boxing; to strike; to smite; to strive; to contend.

If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher.

Shak.

2. To make one's way by blows or struggling.

Strove to buffet to land in vain.

Tennyson.