Occurring frequently in news articles and headlines,
rebuff derives (via Middle French
rebuffer) from Old Italian
ribuffare, meaning "to reprimand," and ultimately from the imitative verb
buffare, meaning "to puff." (You might guess that the verb
buff, meaning "to polish," is a
buffare descendant, but it is actually unrelated. It is derived from Middle French
buffle, meaning "wild ox.") A similar word,
rebuke, shares the "criticize" sense of
rebuff, but not the "reject" sense (one can rebuke another's actions or policies, but one does not rebuke the advances of another, for example). Like
rebuke,
rebuff can also be used as a noun, as in "His proposal was met with a stern rebuff from the Board of Trustees."
