The Collaborative International Dictionary
Buffalo \Buf"fa*lo\, n.; pl. Buffaloes. [Sp. bufalo (cf. It. bufalo, F. buffle), fr. L. bubalus, bufalus, a kind of African stag or gazelle; also, the buffalo or wild ox, fr. Gr. ? buffalo, prob. fr. ? ox. See Cow the animal, and cf. Buff the color, and Bubale.]
(Zo["o]l.) A species of the genus Bos or Bubalus ( Bubalus bubalus), originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the eastern continent. It is larger and less docile than the common ox, and is fond of marshy places and rivers.
(Zo["o]l.) A very large and savage species of the same genus ( Syncerus Caffer syn. Bubalus Caffer) found in South Africa; -- called also Cape buffalo.
(Zo["o]l.) Any species of wild ox.
(Zo["o]l.) The bison of North America.
A buffalo robe. See Buffalo robe, below.
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(Zo["o]l.) The buffalo fish. See Buffalofish, below.
Buffalo berry (Bot.), a shrub of the Upper Missouri ( Sherherdia argentea) with acid edible red berries.
Buffalo bird (Zo["o]l.), an African bird of the genus Buphaga, of two species. These birds perch upon buffaloes and cattle, in search of parasites.
Buffalo bug, the carpet beetle. See under Carpet.
Buffalo chips, dry dung of the buffalo, or bison, used for fuel. [U.S.]
Buffalo clover (Bot.), a kind of clover ( Trifolium reflexum and Trifoliumsoloniferum) found in the ancient grazing grounds of the American bison.
Buffalo cod (Zo["o]l.), a large, edible, marine fish ( Ophiodon elongatus) of the northern Pacific coast; -- called also blue cod, and cultus cod.
Buffalo fly, or Buffalo gnat (Zo["o]l.), a small dipterous insect of the genus Simulium, allied to the black fly of the North. It is often extremely abundant in the lower part of the Mississippi valley and does great injury to domestic animals, often killing large numbers of cattle and horses. In Europe the Columbatz fly is a species with similar habits.
Buffalo grass (Bot.), a species of short, sweet grass ( Buchlo["e] dactyloides), from two to four inches high, covering the prairies on which the buffaloes, or bisons, feed. [U.S.]
Buffalo nut (Bot.), the oily and drupelike fruit of an American shrub ( Pyrularia oleifera); also, the shrub itself; oilnut.
Buffalo robe, the skin of the bison of North America, prepared with the hair on; -- much used as a lap robe in sleighs.
Wiktionary
n. (context US historical English) A cured bison hide, with the hair left on, used as a blanket or wrap.
Wikipedia
A buffalo robe is a cured buffalo hide, with the hair left on. They were used as blankets, saddles or as trade items by the Aboriginal people of North America who inhabited the vast grasslands of the Interior Plains. Some were painted with pictographs or Winter counts that depict important events such as epidemics, famines and battles.
From the 1840s to the 1870s the great demand for buffalo robes in the commercial centres of Montreal, New York, St. Paul and St. Louis was a major factor that led to the near extinction of the species. The robes were used as blankets and padding in carriages and sleighs and were made into Buffalo coats.
Only hides taken in winter between November and March when the furs are in their prime were suitable for buffalo robes. The summer hides were used to make coverings for tipis and moccasins and had little value to traders and neither were the hides of bulls.
Usage examples of "buffalo robe".
Sergeant Pryor informs me that when they came near the Indian camp, they were met by men with a buffalo robe to carry them.
James turned her loose and watched her hurriedly slip into a heavy buffalo robe, which just happened to be his since it lay closest to her snatching fingers, and run from the lodge.
M'Lellan, who was at the river bank, advanced to guard the goods, when one of the savages at tempted to hoodwink him with his buffalo robe with one hand, and to stab him with the other.
Outside one of the huts an old man sat cross-legged on a buffalo robe.
A young wife had spread a buffalo robe for him, but Buffalo Hump declined to sit.
If they knew a friend whose buffalo robe was frayed, they filched one of McKeag’.
Her saddle was still on her back, and her burdens were covered by a great white buffalo robe edged with blue and scarlet, which made it seem as if she had a Bactrian hump.
He was swaddled in his buffalo robe, the cocked pistol still in his hand.
Little Wolf pressed his fine buffalo robe upon an old man who was shaking with a chill and himself took the other's thin blanket.
The sacred object of the rite is to be a bull's head and buffalo robe: all who dance the bulls are to wear a bull's head and buffalo robe when they perform.
He hovered for three days, by which time he was wasted as a corpse, and as I gazed down at him shivering in his buffalo robe after he'd vomited out his innards for the twentieth time, it seemed he might as well have gone over, for all the use he would be to us.
Several times ducks and geese, taking off in the mist, almost flew into her as she stood at the near of the boat wrapped in the buffalo robe.