in the buff
informal

- naked, not wearing any clothes

Merriam-Webster

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ORIGIN

“Buff” can be traced back to “buffle”, the Middle French word for buffalo, which evolved to “buffe leather” to describe the hide of the buffalo. This in turn developed into “buff”, which describes the approximate colour of the buffalo hide.

A buff-coat was a light leather tunic worn by English soldiers up until the 17th century. The original meaning of “in the buff” was simply to be wearing such a coat.

The final meaning of “in the buff”, as in naked, is an allusion to the colour of the skin, which is somewhat like the colour buff (a light-brown yellow).

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SYNONYMS

au naturel, without a stitch on, in one’s birthday suit, in the raw, in the altogether, IN THE BUFF, as naked as the day one was born, in the nuddy, mother naked, starkers, bare-assed, buck naked, in a state of nature, without a stitch, wearing only a smile

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PRACTICE OWAD in an English conversation, discuss something like:

“Our British friends were astonished to see so many people IN THE BUFF in Munich’s English Garden”

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THANKS to Olaf for suggesting today’s phrase

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

Paul Smith