What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Buff vs Muff - What's the difference?

buff | muff |

In lang=en terms the difference between buff and muff

is that buff is attractive while muff is a muffin.

As nouns the difference between buff and muff

is that buff is undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals while muff is a piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.

As verbs the difference between buff and muff

is that buff is to polish and make shiny by rubbing while muff is to drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.

As an adjective buff

is of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow.

As an acronym BUFF

is big Ugly Fat Fellow (or Fucker); US Airforce nickname for the B-52 bomber.

buff

English

Etymology 1

From .

Noun

(en noun)
  • Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals.
  • * Shakespeare
    • a suit of buff
  • A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing.
  • A brownish yellow colour.
  • * Dryden
    • a visage rough, deformed, unfeatured, and a skin of buff
  • A military coat made of buff leather.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • (informal) A person who is very interested in a particular subject; an enthusiast.
    • He’s a history buff .
  • (gaming) An effect that temporally makes a gaming character stronger.
  • (rail transport) Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition.
  • The bare skin.
    • to strip to the buff
  • * Wright
    • To be in buff is equivalent to being naked.
  • The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.
  • A substance used to dilute (street) drugs in order to increase profits.
  • * Police said the 20 ton hydraulic jack was used to press mixtures of cocaine and "buff" into bricks. (CBC)
    • Derived terms
    * in the buff
    Antonyms
    * (video games) debuff * (video games) nerf

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow.
  • (bodybuilding): Unusually muscular. (also buffed'' or ''buffed out )
    • The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.
  • * 1994 , Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture , page 155:
    • The appearance of logic often derives from faulty syllogisms such as Sgt. Koon's conclusion that King was an ex-con because he was "buffed out " (heavily muscled). The thinking is: "ex-cons are often buffed out; this man is buffed out; therefore, this man is an ex-con."
  • (slang) attractive.
    • Derived terms
    * buff-tip moth * buffly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To polish and make shiny by rubbing.
  • (gaming) To make a character stronger.
    • The enchanter buffed the paladin to prepare him to fight the dragon.
    Derived terms
    * buff out * buff up * buff wheel

    Synonyms

    * (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing) wax, shine, polish, furbish, burnish
    Antonyms
    * (video games) debuff * (video games) nerf

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To strike.
    • (Ben Jonson)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A buffet; a blow.
  • * Spenser
    • Nathless so sore a buff to him it lent / That made him reel.
    Derived terms
    * blind man's buff

    muff

    English

    (wikipedia muff)

    Etymology 1

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (lb) A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
  • *
  • *:Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff .
  • (lb) Female pubic hair; the vulva.
  • (lb) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
  • The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
  • A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.
    • Synonyms
    * whiskers, beard, muff and beard (bird feathers)
    Related terms
    * muff-diver * muff-diving * muff pistol

    Etymology 2

    Origin unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (colloquial) A fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person.
  • * Thackeray
    • a muff of a curate
  • A bird, the whitethroat.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (sport) To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.
  • To mishandle; to bungle.
  • * 1977 , (Alistair Horne), A Savage War of Peace , New York Review Books 2006, p. 69:
    • Here was the superlative opportunity to make a generous and lasting settlement from a position of strength; but the pieds noirs , like the Israelis, and from not altogether dissimilar motives, were to muff it.

    Etymology 3

    Shortening.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (slang) A muffin.
    • ----