Definition of "rebuff"

rebuff¹

/ɹɪˈbʌf/

noun
plural rebuffs
1. A sudden resistance or refusal.
  Quotations
  And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.
  1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy
2. Repercussion, or beating back.
  Quotations
  the strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud
  1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
verb
third-person singular simple present rebuffs, present participle rebuffing, simple past and past participle rebuffed
1. To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.
  Quotations
  The plaque (2014) doesn't tell you that Leonard [Woolf] had initially been rebuffed. His intended proposal was refused by Virginia [Woolf to be], who then had a change of heart.
  2021 September 22, Stephen Roberts, “The writings on the wall...”, in RAIL, number 940, page 71

rebuff²

/ɹiːˈbʌf/

verb
third-person singular simple present rebuffs, present participle rebuffing, simple past and past participle rebuffed
1. (transitive) To buff again.