buff vs rough-and-tumble

buff

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

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

verb
  • To strike. 

  • To polish and make shiny by rubbing. 

  • To make a character or an item stronger. 

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

rough-and-tumble

noun
  • A person who characteristically engages in such activity 

  • An environment of rough activity 

  • Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight. 

adj
  • active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm 

  • highly competitive 

verb
  • Engage in rough-and-tumble activity 

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