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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1825, 1898
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†BEFONG, n. (See quot.) [bə′fɔŋ]Sc. 1898 E.D.D.:
Befong. A kind of handkerchief or material of which handkerchiefs were made.Edb. 1825 R. Chambers Trad. of Edb. (1929) 201:
The Befong handkerchief (spelt at random) of a stuff similar to what is now called net, crossed upon the breast.
[This word prob. comes from Fr. bouffant(e), ppl.adj., from Fr. bouffer, to puff out. Hatz. and Darm. define bouffante "sorte de guimpe gaufrée que portaient les femmes." Fairholt's Costume in England 1846 (ed. 1885, II. 101) defines buffont as "a projecting covering of gauze or linen for a lady's breast, much worn about 1750." The N.E.D. gives bouffon(t) as obs. with quots. dated 1774 and 1783. Under the form bouffant(e) it reappears in N.E.D. as a term in dressmaking = puffed out, bulging, with quots. 1880, 1883. Befong may have come into Sc. direct from the Fr. The retention of the Fr. accent on the second syllable would account for the reduction of the vowel ou to e. Cf. Eng. buffoon from the same root but with a different development of meaning.]
