buffont

buffont

English

Etymology

French bouffant; doublet of bouffant, which see for more.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌf.ənt/

Noun

buffont (plural buffonts)

1. (chiefly historical) An item of neckwear (a neckerchief), usually of linen, gauze, or lace, worn around the neck and puffed out over the bosom, popular from the 1750s to 1790s.
   • 1782, The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compendium of Entertaining Knowledge, page 91:

     A [...] white ribbon was tied round her scraggy neck, while a buffont attempted to cover her bosom as flat as a deal board, [...]

   • 1857, The Journal of the British Archaeological Association, page 326:

     [...] : a disproportion arising from the fact of the body being contrived for the admission of a buffont, a piece of dress composed of gauze, or fine linen, which was worn over the neck and breast, strutting out like the front of a pouting pigeon.

   • 1992, Stella Cameron, Only by Your Touch, Avon Books (ISBN 9780380766062), pages 64-65:

     Even to his unpracticed eye, the stitching showed the results of a patient hand. A loudly expelled breath drew his attention to Belle Latchett. Her impressive bosom rose inside a plum-colored brocade dress. A buffont of white gauze trembled ...

2. Alternative form of bouffant
   • 2006, Victoria Sherrow, Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History, Greenwood Publishing Group (ISBN 9780313331459), page 69:

     Perhaps the most famous American woman to wear a bouffant hairstyle was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

   • 2006, Ralph Stephens, Therapeutic Chair Massage, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (ISBN 9780781742344), page 28:

     See Figure 5-5 for an example of a bouffant cap on a face cradle.

Alternative forms

• (neckwear): buffon, buffant

Further reading

• 2013, Mary Brooks Picken, The Language of Fashion Dictionary and Digest of Fabric, Sewing and Dress, Read Books Ltd (ISBN 9781447493617)