Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - buffalo

 I. noun  (plural -lo or -loes; also -los)  Usage: often attributive  Etymology: Italian bufalo & Spanish bufalo, from Late Latin bufalus, alteration of Latin bubalus, from Greek boubalos African gazelle  Date: 1562  1. any of several wild bovids: as  a. water ~  b. Cape ~  c.  (1) any of a genus (Bison) of bovids; especially a large shaggy-maned North American bovid (B. bison) that has short horns and heavy forequarters with a large muscular hump and that was formerly abundant on the central and western plains — compare wisent  (2) the flesh of the ~ used as food  2. any of several suckers (genus Ictiobus) found mostly in the Mississippi valley — called also ~ fish  II. transitive verb  (-loed; -loing)  Date: 1891 bewilder, baffle; also bamboozle BUFFALO  geographical name city & port W New York on Lake Erie & Niagara River population 292,648  • ~nian noun