Literary notes about buffet (AI summary)
The word “buffet” has been employed in literature with a remarkable range of meanings. In some texts, especially those with medieval and chivalric settings such as Malory’s Arthurian romances [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and Robin Hood tales [7, 8, 9, 10, 11], it signifies a heavy blow or strike—often delivered in battle or as an act of comic retribution. In contrast, etiquette manuals and domestic narratives by authors like Emily Post [12, 13, 14, 15], Kate Chopin [16, 17], and Harriet Jacobs [18, 19] use “buffet” to denote either a meal arrangement or the furniture on which such a spread is laid out. The term’s usage extends even further in French conversation texts [20, 21, 22], in vivid metaphoric expressions of nature’s forces [23, 24, 25], and even as a proper name [26, 27], illustrating its unique adaptability and breadth in literary contexts.
- Lo, my fellows, said he, yonder ye may see what a buffet he hath; that knight is much bigger than ever was Sir Kay.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - But when he was on foot, there was none that he fought but he gave him such a buffet that he did never recover.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - And then Sir Tristram smote him with a sword such a buffet that he tumbled to the earth.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - And at the last Sir Launcelot smote Sir Carados such a buffet upon the helm that it pierced his brain-pan.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - But Sir Arthur pressed unto Accolon with his shield, and gave him with the pommel in his hand such a buffet that he went three strides aback.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - Then Sir Accolon withdrew him a little, and came on with Excalibur on high, and smote Sir Arthur such a buffet that he fell nigh to the earth.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - Thus the band shot, each in turn, some getting off scot free, and some winning a buffet that always sent them to the grass.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - He hath broken in upon our master's goods, and hath smitten me a buffet upon the ear, so that I thought I was dead.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - Then the King swung back his arm, and, balancing himself a moment, he delivered a buffet at Robin that fell like a thunderbolt.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - Each of you shoot three arrows thereat; and if any fellow misseth by so much as one arrow, he shall have a buffet of Will Scarlet's fist.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - Then how the yeomen shouted with laughter till their sides ached, for never had they seen such a buffet given in all their lives.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - The Stand-up Luncheon This is nothing more nor less than a buffet lunch.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Buffet at afternoon teas, 167 ; luncheons, 248-249 .
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Supper may equally be a simple buffet or an elaborate sit-down one, depending upon the size and type of the house.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Of course all cold dishes and salads can stand in the pantry or on a buffet table all evening.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - It was there also that she ate, keeping her belongings in a rare old buffet, dingy and battered from a hundred years of use.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin - He opened a bottle of wine, of which he kept a small and select supply in a buffet of his own.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin - On such occasions the table was spread with a snow-white cloth, and the china cups and silver spoons were taken from the old-fashioned buffet.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - Some silver spoons which ornamented an old-fashioned buffet had just been discovered.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - buffet , m. , table où sont dressés des mets, des vins, des liqueurs, etc. , pour une fête.
— from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann - Un buffet, orné superbement, offrait
— from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann - joies de la fête?--La reine a-t-elle ri de la mascarade?--A-t-on continué de veiller au renouvellement des provisions du buffet?
— from French Conversation and Composition by Harry Vincent Wann - They buffet with opposing waves, to gain the bloody shore, not to recede from it.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - the ocean waves will buffet thee, and the raven flap his wings over thee; thy soil will be birth-place of weeds, thy sky will canopy barrenness.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - "I," said he, "must buffet the waves in search of—What? Alas! that they called honour is thought of no more.
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey - M. Buffet, an ex-minister of M. Bonaparte, accompanied by numerous other members of the Assembly, was going towards the Palais Royal.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - M. Buffet is a man of some importance; he is one of the three political advisers of the Right; the two others are M. Fould and M. Molé.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo
