Literary authors often employ buff as a subtle, earthy hue that conveys both antiquity and warmth. In descriptions of clothing, buff appears in garments such as doublets, trousers, and waistcoats – evoking a refined, historical ambience [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. The same gentle color is used to describe natural objects and settings – from the creamy tones of eggs [7] to the plumage of birds with buff mottlings [8], [9], and even the delicate gradations in landscapes and minerals [10], [11]. Buff also appears in everyday items like envelopes and china [12], [13], underscoring its versatility. Overall, its shifting intensity—from light, creamy shades to deeper tints [14], [15]—allows writers to use buff as a nuanced adjective that both harmonizes with other colors [16], [17] and enriches the visual tableau in narrative scenes.
- This particular one wore a large buff doublet with big copper-gilt buttons.
— from Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete by Various
- RENAULT-Black velvet doublet and trunks, buff pantaloons, russet boots, dark cloak, embroidered, round black hat, and plumes.
— from Venice Preserved: A Tragedy in Five Acts by Thomas Otway
- Here is Lord Fairfax in plain buff coat slightly laced and slashed with white satin.
— from Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle
- He had on a very nice coat, a becoming waistcoat, and buff trousers.
— from Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends by John Keats
- The king had on a plain buff-colored suit, a gray hat, with a green plume.
— from History of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus II., the Hero-General of the Reformation by Harriet Earhart Monroe
- The wearing of a buff jerkin, a velvet hat, and suchlike, is much forced against me. . . .
— from Blessed Edmund Campion by Louise Imogen Guiney
- These eggs are buff in ground colour, blotched, spotted, or streaked with brown and gray of various shades.
— from Among the Birds in Northern Shires by Charles Dixon
- Tail 3.5,; feathers sharply pointed ; brownish black, with buff bars; under wing-coverts dusky and buff ; back blackish with internal buff loops.
— from Color Key to North American Birds
with bibliographical appendix by Frank M. (Frank Michler) Chapman
- The hind wings are brown, but little mottled with buff.
— from The Butterfly Book
A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America by W. J. (William Jacob) Holland
- The stem is three inches long, solid, firm, often bulbous, tapering upward, often becoming hollow, a creamy-buff.
— from The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard
- Thin beds of gray and buff dolomite interbedded with layers of gray, yellow, and black shale.
— from Creation of the Teton Landscape: The Geologic Story of Grand Teton National Park by John C. (John Calvin) Reed
- Violet opened the buff envelope and read the message slowly.
— from The Late Tenant by Louis Tracy
- Pieces of buff and gold china used constantly in the White House.
— from The Hermitage, Home of General Andrew Jackson by Mary C. (Mary C. Currey) Dorris
- —Light buff, medium buff, and dark buff may all be obtained in the same way by adding more or less of the French ochre or white.
— from Paint & Colour Mixing
A practical handbook for painters, decorators and all who have to mix colours, containing 72 samples of paint of various colours, including the principal graining grounds by Arthur Seymour Jennings
- Its general color is a creamy buff, with dark brown markings.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 388, June 9, 1883 by Various
- Naturally, she chose azaleas, and some of a lovely soft tint of buff harmonised with pale pink ones.
— from Patty and Azalea by Carolyn Wells
- Cap yellow or buff.
— from The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard