noun
buffet
buh-FAY/bəˈfeɪ/
A meal at which diners serve themselves from displayed dishes.
The diners serve themselves from the buffet.
Etymology
From a sideboard holding dishes, buffet expanded to a refreshment area and then to the meal served from it. The self-service meal thus takes its name from furniture; the French word’s deeper origin is uncertain.
In context
when people are having a buffet they forget to take the lids and coverings off of the food dishes they've forgotten to remove the aluminum foil
More examples
- The hotel offers a breakfast buffet.
- She returned to the buffet for vegetables.
- The buffet included several vegetarian dishes.
Forms
buffet · buffets
Similar words
- smorgasbord
- A particular buffet tradition, also used figuratively for variety.