beaufet

English

Etymology

Variant of buffet, perhaps influenced by beau.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊfeɪ/, /ˈbjuːfeɪ/

Noun

beaufet (plural beaufets)

1. (archaic) A counter for refreshments; a buffet.
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 3:

     Mrs. and Miss Bates occupied the drawing-room floor; and there, in the very moderate sized apartment, which was every thing to them, the visitors were most cordially and even gratefully welcomed; the quiet neat old lady, who with her knitting was seated in the warmest corner, wanting even to give up her place to Miss Woodhouse, and her more active, talking daughter, almost ready to overpower them with care and kindness, thanks for their visit, solicitude for their shoes, anxious inquiries after Mr. Woodhouse’s health, cheerful communications about her mother’s, and sweet-cake from the beaufet—[…]

   • 1900, Thomas Hardy, “"Enter a Dragoon"”, in A Changed Man and Other Stories, page 157:

     What’s that I saw on the beaufet in the other room? It never used to be there. A sort of withered corpse of a cake—not an old bride-cake surely?’

2. (archaic) A niche, cupboard, or sideboard for plate, china, glass, etc.
   • 1855, William H[ickling] Prescott, “English Alliance”, in History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, book I, page 123:

     A spacious beaufet, rising to the height of eight stages, or shelves, and filled with a profusion of gold and silver vessels, somewhat ostentatiously displayed the magnificence of the prelate, or of his sovereign.