bufe, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bufe n.

also boufer, bufer, buff, buffa, buffer

[echoic of a bark; Ribton-Turner, A History of Vagrants (1887), suggests Welsh bwch, a buck, a male animal]

(UK Und.) a dog.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 84: bufe a dogge.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: The Canters Dictionary Bufe, a Dogge.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 39: The Buffa peckes me by the stampes.
1637		Dekker Canting Song in Eng. Villainies (8th edn) [as cit. 1612].
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 47: Bufe, A Dog.
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Bufe, a Dog. Buffar, Dog-like.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Bufe, c. A Dog.
1703		Hell Upon Earth 5: Buffer, a Dog.
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 167: The Buffer, that is their canting Name for a Dog.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 203: Bufer, or Buffer, a dog. Buffer-napper, a dog-Stealer.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Buff, a dog.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c 365: The Cat [...] having given the Buffer, (that is the canting Name for a Dog) two or three Scratches on the Nose, there began so great a Skirmish.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 117: A Dog A Buffer.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: A Buffer and Grunter; a Dog and Hog.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxix: A Boufer A Dog.
1781		G. Parker View of Society II 81: They call the dog a Buffer, from a practice among them of killing such dogs as no advertisement or enquiry has been made for; and this they call ‘buffing the dog’.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: bufe. A dog. (cant) Bufe’s nob; a dog’s head.
c.1800		Song No. 21 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: He held the buffer in one hand.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 230: buffer; a dog.
1819		P. Egan Key to the Picture of the Fancy going to a Fight 17: [H]e has [...] blowed out his buffer well with the last mag left in his clie.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785].
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 26 Sept. 5/3: [A]s the lads say, we wish the best buffer' ‘may get it. A great Match is on the tapis, for 2001. between the dog Driver and a dog not yet named.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 40: Reilly the butcher has two or three capital dogs, and there’s a wicked mastiff below stairs, and I’ll send for my ‘buffer,’ and we’ll have some spanking sport.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 12: Buffer, a dog.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 192: They had a dog belonging to them that would be sure to begin a quarrel with another ‘buffer’.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).

In compounds

bufe nabber (n.) (also buff-knapper, buffe-napper, buffer-nabber) [nabber n. (1)]

a dog stealer.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Buffenapper, c. a Dog-stealer.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 203: Buffer-napper, a dog-Stealer.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Buff-Knapper [...] The 32nd Order of Villains.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 7: Buffer napper – dog stealer.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 100: Buffer napper, dog stealer.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 12: Buff Napper, a dog stealer.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: Among these small fry of the profession may be included the [...] the buff napper or dog stealer, the buz bloke or confidence man.

bufe’s nab (n.) (also bufe’s nob, buffer’s nab) [nab n.¹ (1)/nob n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) a dog’s head used as a seal.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: buffer’s nab c. a Dog’s Head, used in a Counterfeit Seal to a false Pass.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: [as B.E.].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: [as B.E.].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: bufe. A dog. (cant) Bufe’s nob; a dog’s head.

buffer-lurking (n.) (also tike-lurking) [lurking n. (1)]

(UK Und.) stealing dogs.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 109: TIKE, or buffer lurking, dog stealing.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 12: Tike, or Buffer Lurking, dog stealing.