as anciently a little apartment, separated from the rest of the room by slender wooden columns, for the disposing of china, glass-ware, and other articles. It is now properly a large table in a dining-room, called also a sideboard for the plate, glasses, bottles, basins, &c. to be placed on, as well for the service of the table as for magnificence. In the houses of persons of distinction in France, the buffet is a detached room, decorated with pictures relative to the subject, with fountains, cisterns, and vases. It is commonly faced with marble or bronze.