buff vs polish

buff

verb
  • To polish and make shiny by rubbing. 

  • To strike. 

  • To make a character or an item stronger. 

  • To modify a medical chart, especially in a dishonest manner. 

noun
  • Any substance used to dilute (street) drugs in order to increase profits. 

  • Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals. 

  • A military coat made of buff leather. 

  • A buffalo, or the meat of a buffalo. 

  • The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat. 

  • Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition. 

  • A brownish yellow colour. 

  • A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing. 

  • A person who is very interested in a particular subject. 

  • An effect that makes a character or item stronger. 

  • The bare skin. 

adj
  • Of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow. 

  • Physically attractive. 

  • Unusually muscular. 

polish

verb
  • To shine; to make a surface very smooth or shiny by rubbing, cleaning, or grinding. 

  • To refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite. 

  • To apply shoe polish to shoes. 

  • To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface. 

  • To refine; remove imperfections from. 

noun
  • Refinement; cleanliness in performance or presentation. 

  • Cleanliness; smoothness, shininess. 

  • A substance used to polish. 

How often have the words buff and polish occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )