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Buffaloed
Posted by ESC on February 21, 2003
In Reply to: buffaloed posted by R. Berg on February 21, 2003
: : : : Why
do they use the animal buffalo, in to be buffaloed or I was buffaloed.
: :
: : thanks
: : : Just a guess:
: : : The bison or buffalo is not a meek animal
as it is quite threatening looking; so maybe the term "buffaloed", which means
"to intimidate", is from the animal's display of confidence or authority.
:
: Where might I find the beginning of the use of the term buffaloed. Doing great
so far!
: : Thanks again,
: : Murph
: The earliest quotation for "buffalo" as a verb (labeled U.S. slang) in the Oxford English Dictionary is dated 1904:
: N. Y. Even. Post 5 Oct. . . . All the rest (of the newspapers) were what we used to term in the Southwest 'buffaloed' by the McKinley myth--that is, silenced by the fear of incurring the resentment of a people taught to regard McKinley as a saint.
: That passage implies that "buffaloed" may have been used in spoken slang much earlier than 1904.
Here's what I found:
BUFFALO - Verb. "Orig. West. a. to intimidate or frighten, esp. by means of mere bluff; to cow. 1891 Lummis 'David' 84: The boy's a good boy, 'n' he shain't be buffalered while I'm 'round'." From the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994.
That's the meaning I am familiar with. "That little boy has his parents buffaloed."
Here's a slightly different take:
TO BUFFALO SOMEONE - "1870s, to cheat or intimidate someone." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).
Neither reference gives an origin. There are several possibilities - the way a buffalo herd defends itself, how an individual buffalo bluffs its enemies, the way buffalo were hunted.
