Meaning

noun an ardent follower and admirer

noun a soft thick undyed leather from the skins of e.g. buffalo or oxen

noun bare skin; naked

originFrom Middle English buffen (“to stutter, stammer”), from Old English byffan (“to mumble, mutter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bubjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH- (“to fear, to be afraid”). More at bive (“tremble, shake”) and bever.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0