A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with horns that curve upwards. Buffalo are usually found in southern and eastern Africa.
2. countable noun
A buffalo is the same as a water buffalo.
3. countable noun
A buffalo is the same as a bison.
buffalo in British English
(ˈbʌfəˌləʊ)
nounWord forms: plural-loes or -lo
1. Also called: Cape buffalo
a member of the cattle tribe, Syncerus caffer, mostly found in game reserves in southern and eastern Africa and having upward-curving horns
2. short for water buffalo
3. Also called: bison US and Canadian
a member of the cattle tribe, Bison bison, formerly widely distributed over the prairies of W North America but now confined to reserves and parks, with a massive head, shaggy forequarters, and a humped back
▶ Related adjective: bubaline
verb(transitive) US and Canadian informal
4. (often passive)
to confuse
5.
to intimidate
Word origin
C16: from Italian bufalo, from Late Latin būfalus, alteration of Latin būbalus; see bubal
Buffalo in British English
(ˈbʌfəˌləʊ)
noun
a port in W New York State, at the E end of Lake Erie. Pop: 285 018 (2003 est)
DEEP in the rolling Hampshire countryside is a farm that produces cheese from a steaming herd of buffalo.
The Sun (2017)
This is a brilliant recipe for making inexpensive mozzarella taste like the finest buffalo mozzarella.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
There was one that had been fitted with the head from a buffalo.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The penny dropped when she realised that there were no quotas for buffalo milk.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The grocery shop had enormous deer and buffalo heads mounted on the walls.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It would take a herd of buffalo to stop me buying another.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Perhaps that had something to with the buffalo heads lit by lasers shining through the eye sockets.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
It is home to his herd of breeding buffalo.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Elephant and buffalo ambled out of the rain forest to wade in the weedy shallows and to drink.
Cameron, Kenneth M Into Africa - a social history of the East African Safari (1989)
They collapsed like a shot buffalo.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Across its Northumberland parkland roamed herds of antelope and buffalo.
The Times Literary Supplement (2012)
It's huge and is home to enormous herds of elephant and buffalo.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
You dare not let him build a head of steam - he is like a runaway buffalo.
The Sun (2008)
A month before, a pride of lions killed a buffalo outside one of the tents.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
In the afternoon, we caught up with a pride of 17 lions hunting buffalo.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
buffalo
British English: buffalo /ˈbʌfəˌləʊ/ NOUN
A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with long curved horns.
American English: buffalo
Arabic: جاموسَة
Brazilian Portuguese: búfalo
Chinese: 水牛
Croatian: bivol
Czech: buvol
Danish: bøffel
Dutch: bizon
European Spanish: búfalo
Finnish: puhveli
French: buffle
German: Büffel
Greek: βούβαλος
Italian: bufalo
Japanese: 水牛
Korean: 버팔로
Norwegian: bøffel
Polish: bawół
European Portuguese: búfalo
Romanian: bizon
Russian: бизон
Latin American Spanish: búfalo
Swedish: buffel
Thai: กระบือ
Turkish: bufalo
Ukrainian: буйвіл
Vietnamese: con trâu
All related terms of 'buffalo'
buffalo bug
→ carpet beetle
buffalo berry
a shrub (genus Shepherdia ) of the oleaster family, native to W North America , with silvery leaves
Buffalo Bill
nickname of William Frederick Cody . 1846–1917, US showman who toured Europe and the US with his famous Wild West Show
buffalo fish
any of a genus ( Ictiobus ) of large, humpbacked, freshwater sucker fishes found in North America
buffalo gnat
any of various small North American blood-sucking dipterous insects of the genus Simulium and related genera: family Simuliidae
buffalo grass
a short grass , Buchloë dactyloides , growing on the dry plains of the central US
buffalo robe
a carriage robe or rug made of the skin of the bison , dressed with the hair on
buffalo wing
a deep-fried chicken wing served in a spicy sauce and usually with celery and blue cheese
Buffalo wings
spicy fried segments of chicken wings, usually served with celery sticks and a sauce of blue cheese
Cape buffalo
a large, black, nearly hairless , very fierce buffalo ( Syncerus caffer ) of South Africa, with horns joined at the bases to form a helmetlike structure
water buffalo
A water buffalo is an animal like a large cow with long horns that curve upwards . In some countries water buffalo are kept for their milk and are used to draw ploughs .
Asiatic buffalo
a member of the cattle tribe , Bubalus bubalis, of swampy regions of S Asia, having widely spreading back-curving horns . Domesticated forms are used as draught animals
buffalo beetle
the hairy larva of a carpet beetle ( Anthrenus scrophulariae ), harmful to furs and woolens
Indian buffalo
a member of the cattle tribe , Bubalus bubalis, of swampy regions of S Asia, having widely spreading back-curving horns . Domesticated forms are used as draught animals
anoa
the smallest of the cattle tribe Anoa depressicornis, having small straight horns and inhabiting the island of Celebes in Indonesia
Plains Indian
a member of any of the Native American peoples formerly living in the Great Plains of the US and Canada