buttonn.
/ˈbʌtn/, U.S. /ˈbətn/ I. A small, man-made disc, knob, etc., which is, or is designed to be, attached to something else, or which forms part of a larger structure.
1.
a. A small disc or knob attached to a garment (or other fabric item) and used either as a fastener by passing it through a buttonhole or as a decoration. In early use also: †an ornamental, rounded knob or stud on a knife, piece of armour, or other item. (obsolete).Buttons are typically made of plastic, metal, mother of pearl, or horn, and are usually perforated in the centre or provided with a shank to enable them to be attached to a garment or other fabric item.hair-button, pearl button, shirt-button, tufting-button, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > button
buttona1350
tit1635
buttoninga1645
a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 28 Hue boskeþ huem wyþ botouns, ase hit were a brude.
?c1350 Ballad Sc. Wars l. 37 in A. Brandl & O. Zippel Mitteleng. Sprach- u. Literaturproben (1917) 138 (MED) His robe was alle golde-bigane..Botones asurd everlke ane, Fra his elbouthe ontil his hande.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 121 A ballokknyf with botones ouergylte.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 20 A Button, fibula, nodulus, bulla.
a1486 Ordinances Chivalry in Archaeologia (1900) 57 40 (MED) A hanscement for the Bode with slevis; A botton with a tresse in þe platis.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. f. cclvv/2 My booke..was..couered with crymson veluet, with ten botons of syluer and gylte.
1582 A. Golding tr. Ioyful & Royal Entertainment sig. Dv The Prince..put vpon him the sayde mantle,..fastening the button thereof.
1647 Husbandmans Plea against Tithes 75 He goes to the Merchant taylor to buy a suit, and..it hath no buttons, nor hooks upon it, to make it usefull for him.
1695 R. Blackmore Prince Arthur ix. 254 His Purple Boots were of Iberian Hide, Which fast with Golden Buttons held..his comely Legs embrac'd.
1725 London Gaz. No. 6402/2 A Wastcoat, with Glass Buttons set in Brass.
1782 J. Howie Judgm. & Justice of God Exemplified 22 The buttons burst off his breast.
1834 Niles' Weekly Reg. 4 Oct. 89/1 Four buttons on each cuff, and four on each pocket flap.
1865 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 15 July 3/1 A purse worth finding, too... With trembling fingers Symkin undid the button.
1942 N.Y. Times 10 May d5/2 The rough cotton upholstery of the sofa is indigo-blue with red tufted buttons.
1971 Daily Mail 2 Dec. 23/5 I..make a mental note to get his suit cleaned or sew that coat button on.
2013 R. Littell Nasty Piece of Work iv. 25 A tie hanging loose around his neck and the top button of his wrinkled shirt unbuttoned.
b. As the type of something of little or no value or importance, chiefly in negative constructions, as not to be worth a button, not to care a button, not to give a button, etc. Cf. button top n. at Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little worth
ivy-leafc1000
needle?c1225
sloec1250
peasea1275
strawc1290
bean1297
nutc1300
buttonc1330
leekc1330
trifle1375
cress1377
goose-wing1377
sop1377
niflec1395
vetcha1400
a pin's head (also point)c1450
trump1513
plack1530
toy1530
blue point1532
grey groat1546
cherry-stone1607
jiggalorum1613
candle-enda1625
peppercorn1638
sponge1671
sneeshing1686
snottera1689
catchpenny1705
potato1757
snuff1809
pinhead1828
traneen1837
a hill of beans1863
gubbins1918
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1448 He smot him in þe side; It no vailed o botoun.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 86 Hi ne prayseþ þe wordle bote ane botoun.
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 199 Forto haue of me as miche helpe as þe value of a botoun.
c1475 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) l. 2216 (MED) His shelde auailled him not a botoun.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Gal. vi. f. xxiv Whether a man come, circumcised..or not circumcised.., it forceth not... A button therfore for all worldely differences.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. v. sig. Kv/2 They set not a button by his commaundement.
1648 N. Ward Mercurius Anti-mechanicus 47 Alas, 'tis not worth a Button.
1672 Duke of Buckingham Rehearsal iii. 26 I would not give a button for my Play.
1713 R. Steele in Guardian 17 June 2/1 Not..a Button the worse for it.
1799 J. T. Allingham Fortune's Frolic ii. iv. 29 Why as to his consent, I don't value it a button.
1861 ‘G. Eliot’ Silas Marner iii. 60 He did not care a button for cock-fighting.
1953 J. Woodford Writer's Cramp iii. 45 Nothing you can get paid for..is easy to do unless you get paid buttons for it.
2012 Sunday Times (Nexis) 11 Nov. 50 The film looks like a million dollars..but the script isn't worth a button.
c. figurative. Something, esp. the nose or mouth, regarded as resembling a button, typically in being (attractively or pleasingly) small and rounded. Cf. button nose n. at Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > nose > [noun] > types of nose
snoutc1330
hawk-nose1534
bottlenose1553
saddle nose?c1599
snut-nose1603
tooter1638
bridgea1658
hook-nose1687
button1696
snub nose1724
pug nose1769
Roman1821
Grecian nose1830
snub1830
potato-nose1853
squash nose1882
number six nose1923
1696 A. Lovell Summary Material Heads 18 This is such a little Button of a World.
1796 R. C. tr. Princess Coquedœf & Prince Bonbon 35 'Tis for thy button of a nose, to be sure, that I have kept my pap.
1835 L. M. Sargent Fritz Hazell 90 A round button of a body came dumpling into the room.
1855 Househ. Words 13 Oct. 258/2 Screwing up its red little button of a mouth.
1888 A. Machen Chron. Clemendy 291 Her nose..had just that little turn at the end which virtuosi in noses declare to be desirable... This dainty button..is a sure sign of those charming imperfections which make ladies perfect.
1902 A. M. Williamson Papa xv. 206 These great black eyes, this little pink button of a mouth, and this soft cloud of dusky hair.
1962 Times of India 1 May 8/3 He was tiny, his shell no bigger than a teacup, and..his eyes were shining black unwinking buttons.
1998 S. Donati Into Wilderness (2010) 657 She had her new baby strapped to her chest with a shawl, and the little button of a face peered out.
2009 R. Satyal Blue Boy 101 My cute button of a nose, the tip of it rounded.
d. A badge or emblem, usually consisting of a small, circular piece of metal, bearing an image or slogan, and typically worn to indicate a person's membership of a group or support for a cause, political party, etc. Cf. button badge n. at Compounds 2a. Chiefly North American in later use. Originally in the form of a garment button (cf. sense 1a); now more usually a badge with a pin on the reverse, by which it may be attached to clothing, etc.See also protest button n. at protest n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > [noun] > badge > types of badge
favoura1616
field mark1653
cockade1709
star1830
button1837
pin1848
brassard1870
patch1884
shoulder patch1947
badging1983
1837 Southern Lit. Messenger Sept. 531/2 Persons of rank and fortune delight to form themselves into Pickwick clubs, to wear the Pickwick button, and to be known by Pickwick designations.
1844 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 17 July I do not consider the button a rebel badge; it is a Repeal button.
1893 N.Y. Times 31 Mar. 9/2 ‘I was mustered in..you see—here is my badge’, and Mr. Comstock proudly exhibited a bright new Grand Army button on the lapel of his coat.
1900 Daily News 5 Nov. 7/1 Another feature of an American Presidential campaign is the lavish display of political ‘buttons’.
1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out xix. 314 The parti-coloured button of a suffrage society.
1979 Washington Post 7 July b1/2 [He] arrived in America three weeks ago, with..his lover, and a Gay Pride button pinned to his jacket.
2006 E. L. Harris I say Little Prayer (2007) 296 I noticed Ms. Gladys wearing a button that said, Vote Democratic.
2. † a. A small knob or pompom attached to the peak of the crown of a cap as a decoration. Cf. slightly earlier button cap n. at Compounds 2a. Obsolete.† b. Surgery. A bulbous knob at the end of a surgical instrument, often designed to render it blunt. Frequently attributive, as button end, button point, etc. Obsolete.See also button cautery n., button iron n., button-pointed adj. (b) at Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > parts of headgear > [noun] > knot or tassel
buttona1547
tuft1670
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. D.i Behold a light out of the butten [L. apex] sprang That in tip of Julus cap did stand.
1581 C. Thimelthorpe Short Inuentory Certayne Idle Inuentions f. 55 A payre of hye buckled shooes, and a capp with a butten on the crowne.
1614 W. Browne Shepheards Pipe ii. sig. C8v His bonnet neatly on his head, With button on the top.
1656 E. Prestwich Hectors 48 He..stroke at my head, which I could not so fully ward, but that he cut off the button of my Cap.
1701 T. D'Urfey Bath iv. i. 31 So, Country-man; you are the Button in Fortune's Cap.
1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ix. 153 He..cautiously lifted Mr. Barker's cap from his head by the woollen button in the middle.
1913 B. Goodkind Poor Amer. in Ireland & Scotl. xvi. 179 On his head was perched a cute little Glengarry cap with a cloth button on top of it.
ΚΠ
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. clxxxv. f. 120v in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe The instruments are to be made..some..with sharpe edges, and..some with a great button, & some with a small button at the one ende.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. sig. cv The Cauterye with the buttone..is verye profitable to singe the skinne.
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xix. xxiii. 744 The Caruncles..shall be exasperated, excoriated and torne with a leaden Cathæter having a rough button at the end like a round file.
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. iii. iii. 224 Those [Excrescences] that had very small roots I burnt with the Button-end of my Probe.
1723 tr. R. J. C. de Garengeot Treat. Chirurg. Operations 577 A Steel Blade, pretty strong, in the upper and external Part of which there is a small Button, round and very smooth.
1752 Philos. Trans. 1749–50 (Royal Soc.) 46 28 As the common Knife is not so proper for this Purpose.., I have got one made..with a Gorget-Handle and Button-Point.
1855 W. T. Helmuth Surg. & its Adaptation to Homœopathic Pract. xxxvi. 601 A pair of small straight scissors, of which one of the blades is terminated by a little button.
1883 Med. News 27 Jan. 92/1 The immediate examination of the wound with button probes.
1919 U.S. Naval Med. Bull. 13 278 We detached these glandular bodies, the tissues being easily cut by means of a button bistoury.
c. Fencing. A knob of leather, rubber, or other material, fitted to the point of a sword, esp. a foil, so as to render it harmless. Also in figurative contexts. Recorded earliest (as a term of abuse) in foil-button at foil n.5 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > fencing > [noun] > foil > part of
button1598
prime1639
feeble1645
foiblea1648
fortea1648
stronga1648
sworda1648
weak1683
seconde1688
strength1702
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. x. sig. H4v This bumbast foile-button I once did see By chaunce, in Liuias modest companie.
1606 W. Drummond Let. 6 Aug. in Wks. (1711) 232 How foolishly ambitious those Fellows were..to have killed one another; for they would have most willingly taken the Buttons off the Foils.
1735 A. Mahon tr. Labat Art of Fencing (new ed.) iii. 12 In all Thrusts, the Button should hit before the Right Foot comes to the Ground.
1849 Literary Amer. 5 May 416/1 One of the foils was without a button and the point was sharp enough to be dangerous.
1868 A. Helps Realmah II. xv. 211 Anybody who is experienced in such writing easily discerns that the buttons are on their foils, while Euphranor's weapon is unguarded.
1932 Scotsman 26 May 11/6 The challenger..arrived at the rendezvous with three fencing épées, with buttons removed and the points sharpened.
1952 Spectator 9 May 599/2 This is..one illustration of Mr. Churchill's complete superiority in Parliamentary fence. He was amiable, and the button was on the foil.
1999 A. Skipp Handbk. Foil Fencing (2006) v. 48 Tell your fencers to stop fencing..if the rubber button gets damaged or falls off.
d. Gunnery. On a cannon: a ball-shaped knob at the end of the breech; = pommel n.1 2e. Cf. cascabel n. 1a. Now rare (historical in later use).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > raised band on cannon > on breech
base ring1626
carnouse1626
button1640
button astragal1847
neck fillet1859
frettage1882
1640 H. Hexham Third Pt. Princ. Art Mil. ii. sig. A2v The Casacabel, or the out most pommel or button of the peece.
1673 J. Moore tr. T. Moretti Treat. Artillery ii. v. 38 The Braga is of Iron..and in the end hath a long trail..with its Button, or Pummel.
1746 tr. G. Le Blond Treat. Artillery ii. 12 If a cannon was without cascabel, or button, trunnions, and mouldings, it would exactly resemble..a cone the small end being cut off.
1795 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. I. 560/1 One of these extraordinary cannon was taken at the siege of Dieu in 1546... It has neither dolphins, rings, nor button.
1870 A. Demmin Weapons of War vii. 490 The opposite end to the mouth is the breech, finished by the button, now termed cascabel.
2008 Sport Diver Apr. 16/1 The 18th-century cannon is heavily encrusted but..I have exposed the ‘button’—the rounded rear knob, to which ropes were once attached.
e. A rounded, often decorative, knob or pommel on the end or handle of a cane, crop, sceptre, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > decoration specifically in relief > [noun] > bosses and knobs
pommel1345
knop1362
bossa1382
knotc1394
stooth1397
stud1420
bullion1463
torea1572
bossing1583
knurl1608
button1669
tachette1688
knosp1808
nail head1836
pellet1842
1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ xi. 209 The Trenching-plough or Coulter is a certain Instrument used in Meadow or Pasture-ground..: It is only a long stale or handle, with a Button at the end for ones hand.
1685 London Gaz. No. 2030/4 The Button of His Majesty's Scepter.
1739 Hist. Life Richard Turpin 18 Mr. Bayes looking on the Whip in his Hand found the Button half broke off, and the Name Major upon it.
1869 Q. Jrnl. Psychol. Med. & Med. Jurispr. 3 486 The crooked ivory button of his cane.
1886 Manch. Weekly Times 13 Nov. (Suppl.) 6/3 Punching at me with his sceptre, and knocking his little round button at top against the ceiling.
1905 Saddlery & Harness Apr. 92/2 The rawhide steel-lined polo or jockey whip with leather head or button to prevent slipping through the hand.
2013 G. S. Bucklin Gentle Art of Horseback Riding x. 105 For riding, you should start with a crop, with a button on the end or a wide knob.
f. A small, ball-shaped, ornamental knob or finial, typically made of porcelain, glass, metal, or a gemstone, worn on the cap of a Chinese mandarin (mandarin n.1 1a), and indicating by its colour and material the rank of the wearer. Also: the rank represented by such a button. Frequently with modifying adjective specifying the knob's colour or material, as sapphire button, red button (see red button n. 1), etc.; often used attributively, as pink-button mandarin. Now historical.Such buttons were worn by Chinese mandarins during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > trimmings or ornamentation > other
jace1399
loopa1475
shakers1506
aglet1530
nerve1531
pipe1533
targeting1563
pinion1583
pinioning1597
tzitzit1618
loop-lace1632
button1671
tip1681
fal-lal1703
falbala1705
furbelow1706
jewelling1718
weeper1724
pompom1748
chiffons1765
foliage-trimming1818
mancheron1822
piping1825
manchette1835
patte1835
streamer1838
waterfall1841
paillette1843
brandenburgs1873
motif1882
patch1884
smocking1888
jockey1896
strapping1898
steel1899
sparklet1902
slotting1923
1671 tr. J. de Palafox y Mendoza Hist. Conquest of China by Tartars xxxii. 573 The Mandorins..are distinguished by these Plates, which they ever wear, either of Gold or Silver, with some Jewel set in the midst. And..the bigness, colour, form, and fashion of the Plate, Button [Fr. le bouton], or Jewel, must..mark out the rank and quality of him who wears it.
1798 tr. A. E. van Braam Houckgeest Authentic Acct. Embassy Dutch East-India Company to China I. 32 The bullky presents were dispatched for Pe-king..under the care of a principal Mandarin of the white button.
1819 J. McLeod Narr. Voy. Alceste (ed. 3) 111 Certain mandarins..were not of sufficient button to be entertained in the company of the embassador.
1834 Fraser's Mag. 10 225 It would be considered..strange to see a mandarin of any considerable button under the influence of opium.
1876 J. S. Ingram Centennial Expos. xxii. 485 He is a most eminent man in China, a pink button mandarin, and the greatest..banker in the empire.
1911 E. Wherry Red Lantern ix. 193 On condition that Jung Lu commend him to the Empress as candidate for the ‘Sapphire Button’ or rank of third grade mandarin.
1992 J. Rothschild tr. A. Peyrefitte Immobile Empire (2013) ii. xi. 71 Qiao, who sported a blue button (one grade below the red), was a man of letters.
3. † b. Horse Riding. A leather ring which may be moved down a horse's reins towards the bridle, in order to restrain the horse's head. Also in to put (a horse) under the button: to restrain (a horse) in this way. Obsolete.In quot. 1586 in figurative context.† d. A type of nail or screw with a large, bulbous head used for attaching fittings to a carriage. Cf. button hanger n. at Compounds 2a. Obsolete. rare.† e. Nautical. A small, thick piece of leather placed under the head of a nail used in securing a rope to a mast or other spar. Obsolete. rare.
a. Any small, rounded part of an implement, device, or piece of equipment.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > other specific parts
armOE
button?1561
running gear1663
relax1676
collar1678
drumhead1698
long arm1717
drum1744
press cloth1745
head1785
absorber1789
bearing plate1794
crown1796
rhodings1805
press box1825
alternator1829
cushion1832
saw tooth1835
shoe1837
keyboard1839
returner1839
cross-head1844
channel shoe1845
baster1846
water port1864
shifter1869
magazine1873
entry port1874
upsetter1875
mechanism1876
tapper1876
tension bar1879
buttonholer1882
take-up1884
auger1886
instrument panel1897
balancer1904
torsion bar1937
powerhead1960
?1561 T. Blundeville Newe Bk. Arte of Ryding iii. xxv. sig. E.vi For holding out his tunge..take..a scach wyth a turninge rolle or button on eche side.
1592 T. Hood Vse of Both Globes sig. C7 A thinne ruler of brasse..diuided into the .90. degree, made fast at the .90. degree to a litle buttone of brasse.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 509 There are..othersome [moustraps] which do kil them,..as with a stronge piece of yron being smal, and hung right against the butten of the trap.
1662 J. Brown Triangular Quadrant 9 Looking through the small hole of the horizon sight, you see the crosse bar and button, in the turning sight.
1787 G. Winter New Syst. Husbandry 301 Brass collars..which..are covered with buttons or sliders to prevent dirt or dust falling into the holes.
1870 Amer. Artisan 6 Apr. 212/1 A metal button on the portion [of the machine] to which the chisel is attached..prevents the chisel going too far in either direction.
1934 Ann. Brit. School Athens 1931–2 32 196 A handle of a large pithos..has a small projecting button in the middle.
2004 E. Mizrahi Orthodontic Pearls iii. ix. 114/1 An elastomeric thread..is tied to a button bonded to the occlusal surface of the partially impacted second molar.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > rings or loops
ringle1419
torret1429
button?1561
French buckle1691
bridge1795
dee1795
handpiece1840
pirn1846
thill-tug1859
Irish martingale1874
pipe-loop1875
kidney-link1883
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [verb (transitive)] > bridle, halter, collar, or reins
bridlec1330
kevela1400
halterc1440
rein?c1475
pastern1598
lock1625
to put (a horse) under the button1667
knee-halter1835
collar1884
?1561 T. Blundeville Newe Bk. Arte of Ryding ii. sig. G.vv You haue reaned vp his head by staying ye reanes of the bridle with the button vpon his necke.
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 534 So must fathers..somtime let loose a little the bridle to the desires of their children... Againe, they must by & by let downe the button, & hold them hard in with the bridle.
1642 H. Hexham Duties Horseman 6 in 1st Pt. Princ. Art Mil. (ed. 2) A horseman..laies hould on the ends of the reins aboue the button in his right hand, and with the thumbe, and the two first fingers of that hand, draws them to an even length.
1667 Duke of Newcastle New Method to dress Horses iii. 278 Bring the Horse Sadled, and Bridled, and put him under the Button, and then let a Groom take the inward Cavezone's Reyn for the Right-Hand.
1789 Man. Exercise & Evolutions of Cavalry 26 Slip your left hand along the reins of the bridle, and take hold of the loop, or button, which is near the upper end of the reins.
c. A small, pivoted, wooden knob or bar for fastening or securing a door, window, etc. Now only in turn-button n. at turn- comb. form .
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > other fastenings
wire1426–7
drawbar1530
button1676
strap1753
dog bolt1810
quick-set1842
turn-buckle1877
bottle screw1903
ziplock1956
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > parts of door > [noun] > door fittings > handle or knob
pina1600
button1712
door-handle1832
door-knob1847
1676 J. Worlidge Apiarium iv. 16 Let there be Shutters or Covers for each Square of Glass, to be added and taken off at pleasure, by means of small Buttons or Hasps.
1712 J. Warder True Amazons xiii. 124 With a small Button to turn upon a Nail it is to be fastened with, that without trouble you may open the Door.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Bee There should be a glass window behind,..with..a button to fasten it.
1773 C. Burney Present State Music in Germany I. 190 I had now filled up the chinks of my cabin with splinters, and..got a new button to the door.
1855 Daily Reg. (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 21 Apr. The closet door is secured..by a wood-button that turns over the edge of the door.
1879 G. MacDonald Sir Gibbie I. xiii. 185 He got up the ladder,..opening the shutter, which was fastened only with a button.
1918 Daily Mail 21 Mar. 2/3 For a hutch I got a sugar box... All it requires is a door with hinges and a button to fasten it.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > carriage for conveying persons > [noun]
cartc1175
whirlicotec1381
conveyancea1616
charrey1640
carriage1727
button1794
1794 W. Felton Treat. Carriages I. xvi. 216 A knee-boot..being only hitched on to buttons fixed in the footboard.
1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. (Gloss.) 214 Buttons, nails or screws with large brass heads, for the purpose of hitching on the straps.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > leather under nail through rope
button1794
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 193 The first turn is..nailed..to the mast or bowsprit, with three bails, and a leather button under the head of each nail.
f. On some watches: a small, rounded knob protruding from the top, or later more usually side, of the case for winding the watch or adjusting the hands; = winding button n. at winding n.1 Compounds 1c.
ΚΠ
1846 Repertory Patent Inventions 7 152 In withdrawing or pushing in the button,..the watch is either wound up or the hands are turned, as may be required.
1868 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 7 Aug. 789/2 This watch..is keyless, being wound up by turning a button, from left to right.
1886 Times of India 21 May 1/4 (advt.) To set to time, turn the button three or four times round to the right, then draw it slightly out;..when, set to time, push in the button.
1922 G. L. Overton Clocks & Watches v. 63 When the button is rotated in a right-hand direction,..it will..wind up the mainspring.
1967 J. Christopher White Mountains v. 74 The Watch had slipped down..to my wrist... ‘How is it made to go?’ ‘You turn the button on the side,’ I said.
1987 New Q. (Univ. Waterloo, Canada) Winter 12 I pulled out my missing wrist-watch. I shook it, wound the button, and put it to my ear. It ticked.
g. Rowing. A narrow collar or ring (originally of leather, now more usually plastic) fitted around the shaft of an oar, to prevent the oar slipping through the rowlock.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > rowing apparatus > [noun] > oar > projection keeping oar in rowlock
button1847
1847 New Sporting Mag. Sept. 232 That part of the oar which goes against the rowlock was covered all round with leather, and the button went round two sides of it, so that during the stroke the button pressed against the thoul.
1883 Wide Awake Nov. 154/1 If the oar tends to slide out into the water, put a button of leather on it where it strikes just inside of the thole-pins.
1905 S. Crowther in S. Crowther & A. Ruhl Rowing & Track Athletics i. xiv. 243 The other oarsmen had ten-foot sculls with the button at two and one-half feet.
1963 Times 18 Feb. 3/7 Mead was pulling his button away from the rowlock.
2007 M. B. Roberts Crew iii. 52 Most oarsmen have a favorite oar.., so taking care of it by regularly greasing the button..is common sense.
h. Music. In some organs: a small, circular piece of leather with a hole in the centre which is screwed onto the threaded wire at the end of the tracker (tracker n.2 2.) to connect the tracker securely to the adjacent part of the mechanism and to enable its length to be adjusted.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts conveying action
roller1632
roller board1632
sticker1756
tracker1843
pricker1852
trace1852
button1855
trundle1876
fan1880
square1880
trace-rod1880
1855 E. J. Hopkins Organ, Hist. & Constr. vii. xxix. 184 The union of the roller-arms with the trackers is effected by means of tapped-wires and buttons.
1877 J. Stainer Organ 17 The little wire passing from the end of the tracker into the hole in the backfall is made like a screw,..so, where it appears below the backfall, a little leather button can be screwed on to it.
1899 Music Apr. 616 The tracker action for a large organ is very bulky, very clumsy, and there is almost always a button off or a wire sticking somewhere.
1906 Tuning, Care & Repair of Reed & Pipe Organs 68 Sometimes the leather regulating button..pulls off the threaded wire.
2000 D. Gwynn in J. Berrow Towards Conservation & Restoration Hist. Organs vi. 49 A leather button which no longer grips the tracker end wire..will have to be replaced.
4.
a. A small (often rounded) knob or part on an instrument, piece of machinery, or electrical or electronic device which is pressed or turned in order to operate it or activate a specific function.call button, light button, mouse button, press-button, push-button, etc.: see the first element.Cf. also Phrases 10.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > parts of tools generally > [noun] > handle > round
bail1463
bulle1483
boul1560
bow1611
loop1691
button1780
cob-handle1873
swing-handle1891
flush ring1961
1780 P. Degravers Compl. Treat. Human Eye 273 He pushes the little button of the kystitome, with the index, to have its blade out of the sheath.
1793 tr. H. Lemaire French Gil Blas III. ii. 25 Those pieces of furniture had usually secret recesses;..on my pressing a button, I discovered a private drawer which was concealed behind another.
1852 tr. J. J. Seidel Organ & its Constr. 35 A number of handles or buttons projecting from the organ case,..by means of which the player is enabled to produce..a loud or a soft tone.
1880 J. Hawthorne Ellice Quentin II. 261 By turning a button attached to the pipe that supplied the lights, they were at once extinguished.
1922 Daily Mail 6 Feb. 11/5 I have only to move my hand a few inches, press the button of an electric bell, and three footmen will be outside.
1966 Chicago Daily Defender 21 June 4/5 Clusters of switches, buttons, and knobs..fill instrument panels both in front and above them.
2010 J. James Something about You ii. 14 She was still pushing buttons on the remote, trying to figure out how to get past that damn hotel ‘Welcome’ screen.
b. Button A (or B) n. (also with lower-case initial in the first element) chiefly British, Irish English, Australian, and New Zealand (now historical) (in some types of public telephone) a push-button on the coin box labelled with the letter ‘A’ (or ‘B’) which is depressed to complete the connection (or to disconnect the call).Button A, typically located on the front of the coin box, was depressed to complete the connection and permit the caller to be heard when the call was answered; Button B, typically on the side of the coin box, was depressed to disconnect the call and return the coins if there was no answer or the number was engaged.Public telephones employing such buttons were introduced in the 1920s and continued to be in general use until the late 1950s and in some areas until the 1990s.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > telephone > parts of telephone
induction coil1837
ferrotype1857
telephone receiver1875
mouthpiece1877
receiver1877
microphone1878
telephone trumpet1879
magneto bell1882
magneto call bella1884
rest1883
hook1885
receptor1898
telephone dial1898
ringer1899
dial1900
Button A (or B)1922
switch hook1922
phone bell1924
hybrid coil1925
cradle1929
dial wheel1938
hybrid transformer1941
scriber1968
fascia1973
1922 Bathurst (New S. Wales) Times 1 July The London Post Office..has installed at Charing Cross..four ‘automatic’ telephone call boxes... The caller hears the subscriber speak, but cannot himself be heard until he presses button ‘A’.
1928 Times 15 Oct. 17/4 I gave up, and pressed button ‘B’. No coppers were forthcoming.
1942 J. D. Carr Seat of Scornful xiii. 188 Unless you put the money in, you couldn't press Button A and the connection wouldn't work.
1950 Daily News (Perth, W. Austral.) 2 Mar. She gave button B a swift jab and immediately hit the jackpot as 3/9 came hurtling down the shute.
1981 R. W. Bone Maverick Guide to N.Z. v. 168 Coin telephones have the old ‘Button A, Button B’ system some may remember from Britain several years ago.
1994 R. Evans Off Beaten Track: Ireland 337 In the Republic you may still occasionally come across old-style coinboxes that operated on button A and button B.
2017 Church Times 28 Apr. 21/5 We..trawled the phone boxes to see if someone had failed to press Button B so that we could recoup the money.
c. More fully nuclear button. Used with the in various phrases which conceptualize the order to launch a nuclear strike as the pressing of a single button; esp. in to push (also press) the button.Cf. push-button adj. 1b and to press (also push) the button at Phrases 10b.
ΚΠ
1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Refl. on Gandhi in Partisan Rev. Jan. 91 In the few years left to us before somebody presses the button and the rockets begin to fly.
1957 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gaz. 16 Dec. 2/1 Such a plan will not answer the big questions of whose finger will be on the button.
1984 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 7 Apr. 2/4 His [sc. Walter Mondale's] advertising warns..of the dangers of an ‘unsure’ or ‘unsteady’ or ‘untested’ hand on the nuclear button.
2013 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 18 Oct. (Business section) 2 It's the same with America's Cold War stand-off with Cuba and the Soviet Union... Some historians claim there was a one in five chance that one or other side would have hit the button.
d. Computing. In a graphical user interface: a (small) defined area that can be activated by a user (e.g. by clicking the mouse or touching the screen) to perform a particular action or choose an option. Frequently with modifying word, specifying the particular function of the button, as help button, send button, etc.Cf. radio button n. (b) at radio n. Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1981 SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #145 in fa.sf-lovers (Usenet newsgroup) 9 June The user sits in front of a color video monitor which is touch-sensitive..on it you see a view down a street in Aspen, you press the GO button and your point-of-view starts to move down the street.
1983 InfoWorld 28 Nov. 18 The system features a ‘Help’ button that tells users where they are in a program, what they can do next or how they can switch to another program.
1989 P. A. Booth Introd. Human-Computer Interaction viii. 220 (caption) A HyperCard card. Here a number of the buttons in the card are shown. These buttons enable the user to navigate around the system.
1992 PC Mag 29 Sept. 46/2 The Search button in the help system is disabled.
2003 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) (Nexis) 22 Oct. b7 Click a button on the computer screen to start recording.
2015 H. Brencher If you find this Let. (2016) 119 ‘Hey!!!’ I wrote back to his text... My thumb hovered over the ‘send’ button.
5. Music. On an accordion or concertina: each of the small, round push-buttons or discs pressed by the fingers in order to produce a specific note or chord when the bellows are opened or closed. Cf. button accordion n. at Compounds 2a.Frequently distinguished from keys.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > other keyboard instruments > [noun] > concertina or accordion > key of
button1857
1857 Newton's London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 5 81 The object..is..to obviate the difficulty of fingering met with in common concertinas, by placing the buttons or keys in a more convenient position.
1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 10/1 Accordion,..the first instruments had only four buttons, or keys, each of which acted on two reeds.
1911 H. Silberhorn Instructor for Concertina ii. 11 The fingers..should just touch the keys or buttons lightly.
1970 Music Jrnl. (N.Y.) Feb. 21/2 The piano accordion..is characterized by a piano-type keyboard for the right hand and a set of chord-playing buttons for the left.
2011 A. Berry Water Children (2012) 208 A huge man with a handlebar mustache trips his fingers lightly over the buttons of an accordion.
II. A bud or knob which forms naturally on something or forms a natural part of a larger structure.
6.
a. A bud; (also) any of various other rounded, disk-shaped, or globular parts of a plant.fruit button: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > bud > [noun]
burgeoninga1340
bud1398
burging1398
burgeona1400
tendron14..
buttona1425
pumple1523
oillet1574
dodkin1578
pimple1582
eyelet1600
knot1601
eye1618
budleta1864
button bud1869
break1933
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1790 The Roser where that grewe The freysshe bothum so bright of hewe.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xliii. l. 278 (MED) Evere As Clos that Rose it was As Any botown In ony plas.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xii. Prol. 101 The lowkyt buttonys on the gemmyt treis.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. i. 4 Alongst the braunches [of wormwood] groweth little yellow buttons.
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lxxxvii. 164 At the Joynts with the leaves..come forth small round rough green prickly Pellets or Buttons, wherein is contained divers flat brown shining seeds.
1665 J. Rea Flora i. iv. 28 The button under the Rose being bigger than that of any other.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Certain Misc. Tracts (1684) 70 The Buttons, or small sort of Figgs.
1721 J. A. Hop-garden sig. C2 About August, the Hop will begin to be in the Bell, or Button.
1757 W. Bromfield Eng. Nightshades 3 The flowers rise in clusters: they have a common support, and each also its separate pedicle: they are white, with a yellow button in the centre.
1764 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. I Button, among gardeners, denotes a flower or cluster of leaves not yet expanded... Leaf buttons are smaller and more pointed than flower buttons.
1816 J. B. Romberg Brussels & Environs 33 There is another sort of cabbage.., which produces a sort of sprout in the form of a button or bud, about the size of a walnut.
1852 T. Aird in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 237 The simple flowerets..open their infant buttons.
1912 Garden Mag. May 278 (advt.) Chrysanthemums. Hardy Perennial... The present choice is white, dark red, yellow buttons and dark red buttons.
1977 Daily Mail 5 Mar. 30/1 Cauliflowers forming small buttons or small curds before the plants have reached any appreciable size.
2009 M. Lavelle Wildlife-Friendly Garden 176 The deep pink flower heads..are actually made up of many small flowers that lack petals and are concentrated in the central, conical, brown-pink ‘button’ of the daisy head.
b. Chiefly in plural and with distinguishing word. In the names of various herbaceous plants having button-like flowers or seed vessels; (occasionally also) the flowers or seed vessels of such a plant, as Barbary buttons, gentleman's buttons, etc.billy button, bachelor's buttons, beggar's buttons, London buttons, Quaker buttons: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > medicks
medick?1440
snail clover1548
heart trefoil1597
snails1629
melilot trefoil1677
Barbary buttons1712
black-seed1763
snail-plant1767
black medick1778
heart liver1792
snail-shell medick1796
spotted medick1825
hop1866
Calvary clover1882
1552 T. Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ (rev. ed.) Baccharis apud Ruellium, is supposed to be the flower called London button.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole lxxix. 339 Medica lata. Broade Buttons.
1665 J. Rea Flora i. xxii. 198 Snails, or Button...The vessels..in some are like a Snails house.., some like small Buttons.
1712 J. Petiver in Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 386 Round Snails or Barbary Buttons.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 202 Gentleman's Buttons, the flowers of Scabiosa succisa, L.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. 23 Our pigs raved all the garden up, all but the Buttons.
1902 Gardeners' Chron. 1 Feb. 69/2 There are other Buttons with distinctive appellations, instances of which are Barbary Buttons, Cockle Buttons, and Soldiers' Buttons.
1953 N.Y. Times 16 Aug. x. 32 Equally vivid along the road and in winter bouquets is the pungent herb called tansy or bitter buttons.
2010 K. D. Cutler et al. Herb Gardening for Dummies (ed. 2) 265 A plant with nicknames as diverse as cockle buttons, beggar's buttons, hareburr, and love leaves (not to mention pig's rhubarb) has to have a mixed reputation.
c. A rounded or disc-shaped structure or area of tissue on a part of the body of a person or animal. In later use also: a rounded part of a nerve fibre or cell (= bouton n. Additions 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > part of body > [noun] > having specific structure
button1600
lath1633
marsupiuma1637
funnel1712
the world > life > the body > nervous system > substance of nervous system > [noun] > nerve fibre > specific part of
button1600
bouton1932
1600 I. R. Most Straunge, & True Disc. 5 The nose was depressed flat to the face..; hauing at the lower end therof, a rounde button of fleshie substance about the bignes of a nut.
1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 191 The Button of the Optic Nerve.
1797 J. Bell Anat. Human Body I. i. v. 116 Therefore the atlas has a simple ring behind, and has only a small knob or button where the spinous process should be.
1835 R. Owen in Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 321/1 At the parts of the gizzard opposite the musculi laterales, two callous buttons are there formed.
1894 Jrnl. Anat. & Physiol. 28 55 The small, generally flattened, almond-like terminal tubercle, or ‘button’, may stand out a little from the great bone.
1908 Proc. U.S. National Mus. 33 335 Again, the first antennæ [of a copepod larva] are represented as attached to either side of the ‘umbilical button’ at the base of the frontal filament.
1968 J. Bouillon in M. Florkin & B. T. Scheer Chem. Zool. II. ii. i. 84 The mouth of the medusae has four lips, simple, folded, ramified, or eventually with buttons of pedunculated nematocysts.
1979 Sci. Amer. Sept. 55/2 On the arrival of a nerve impulse at the terminal button, some of the vesicles discharge their contents into the narrow cleft that separates the button from the membrane of another cell's dendrite.
2015 Neurosci. Res. 98 37/1 The number of terminal buttons..was counted in each lamina of the gray matter.
d. The unopened cap of a young mushroom, esp. of the commonly cultivated species Agaricus bisporus; the mushroom itself. Frequently attributive (see also button mushroom n. at Compounds 2a).In extended use in quot. 1839 with reference to fossils.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > mushrooms or edible fungi > mushroom > head of a mushroom
button1695
stool1744
cap1763
1695 Family-dict., or Houshold Compan. at Mushrooms to Pickle Take the Buttons, as soon as they put out of the ground, being gathered in a dry Day.
1728 S. Switzer Compend. Method raising Ital. Brocoli 14 The Spawn and Button of the Mushroom had visibly swelled and increased.
1744 R. Pickering in Philos. Trans. 1742–3 (Royal Soc.) 42 598 The Head of the Mushroom..while it is, what is commonly called, a Button.
?1790 W. A. Henderson Housekeeper's Instructor 101 If your mushrooms are very small (such as are usually termed; buttons) you must only wipe them with a flannel.
1839 Dearden's Misc. May 310 Bright bronzed ammonites..; other sparkling nondescripts, known as mushrooms and buttons.
1858 H. M. Smythies Lover's Quarrel I. xix. 275 She had a little basket in her hand, and she resolved to fill it with these tempting buttons.
1882 R. Jefferies Bevis II. xviii. 280 ‘Buttons’, full grown mushrooms, and overgrown ketchup ones.
1910 Minnesota Plant Stud. 4 152 Button Amanitas have been mistaken for puffballs, with fatal results.
1942 N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Mar. 22/2 The tiny buttons should be tidily impaled on toothpicks to occupy the place of prominence on your canapé tray.
1981 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Mar. 995/1 He would be wise the avoid the ‘mushroom’ in the ‘button’ stage since the whiteness of the gills..may be hard to appreciate by the non-expert.
2006 Yoga Jrnl. Oct. 38/2 Contrary to popular belief, most mushrooms don't grow in the dark; buttons are an exception.
e. slang (chiefly U.S.). The disc-shaped dried crown of the peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii, consumed for its hallucinogenic effects; = mescal button n. at mescal n. Compounds 2. Usually in plural.Cf. sense 15a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > an intoxicating drug > [noun] > hallucinogenic drug > mescal button
mescal head1885
button1887
mescal button1887
peyote button1921
1887 Med. Reg. (Philadelphia) 9 Apr. 144/2 The ‘buttons’ are, while green, about two inches in diameter by one-half in thickness, and are covered over with minute thistles... An Indian will eat from six to ten..of those 'buttons' after properly arranging himself in his 'tepee', as does the opium-smoker.
1914 Q. Jrnl. Soc. Amer. Indians 2 100 After eating from seven to seventy buttons the devotee commences his dream-journey to mysterious worlds.
1968 National Cactus & Succulent Jrnl. 23 5/1 The effects of button eating, mescaline ingestion and L.S.D. taking appear to be very similar... I have not heard of any cases of dependence upon ‘buttons’, mescaline or L.S.D.
1987 O. C. Stewart Peyote Relig. i. 3 It is harvested by cutting off the exposed tops of the clusters, leaving the root to produce more ‘buttons’, as the tops are usually called. The buttons are generally dried before being eaten.
2014 N. E. Marion & W. M. Oliver Drugs in Amer. Society 594/1 Street names for mescaline and peyote include big chief, buttons, cactus, and mes.
7. Chiefly Medicine.† a. A skin nodule (chancre) or enlarged lymph node occurring as a symptom of syphilis. Obsolete.In early use esp. in buttons of Naples, Spanish buttons.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > suppuration > [noun] > a suppuration > abscess > ulcer > of venereal disease
dosser1547
buttons of Naples1575
chancrea1585
pock-sore1625
chank1686
pockroyal1694
1575 G. Gascoigne Hearbes 154 in Posies Yet since such Spanish buttons can infect Kings, Emperours, Princes and the world so wide.
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin ii. 128 It appeared alwayes either in vile botches or buttons [Fr. tres-uilains boutons], which often-times proued vlcers incurable.
1596 P. Barrough Method of Phisick (ed. 3) vi. i. 361 The frenchmen at that siege got the buttons of Naples (as we terme them) which doth much annoy them at this day.
1625 C. Burges Fire of Sanctuarie vii. 432 If a Physition should reade a Lecture in Physicke touching the nature and Symptomes of the Neopolitan Buttons..which the French got from the Italians at the Seige of Naples.
1841 T. E. Bond tr. M. Baumes Treat. First Dentition iii. 57 It is also necessary to examine the face, the genital organs, the buttocks, where syphilitic buttons and ulcerations may appear.
1869 J. S. Wells Treat. Dis. Eye iii. 169 It [sc. cancer of the iris] appears in the form of a small dark yellowish-brown elevation or tubercle.., perhaps somewhat resembling a little syphilitic button or condyloma.
b. A pustule or nodule on the skin or a mucous membrane; a pimple. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > swelling > [noun] > a swelling or protuberance
ampereOE
kernelc1000
wenc1000
knot?c1225
swella1250
bulchc1300
bunchc1325
bolninga1340
botcha1387
bouge1398
nodusa1400
oedemaa1400
wax-kernel14..
knobc1405
nodule?a1425
more?c1425
bunnyc1440
papa1450
knurc1460
waxing kernel?c1460
lump?a1500
waxen-kernel1500
bump1533
puff1538
tumour?1541
swelling1542
elevation1543
enlarging1562
knub1563
pimple1582
ganglion1583
button1584
phyma1585
emphysema?1587
flesh-pimple1587
oedem?a1591
burgeon1597
wartle1598
hurtle1599
pough1601
wart1603
extumescence1611
hulch1611
peppernel1613
affusion1615
extumescency1684
jog1715
knibloch1780
tumefaction1802
hunch1803
income1808
intumescence1822
gibber1853
tumescence1859
whetstone1886
tumidity1897
Osler's node1920
1584 T. Chaloner Shorte Disc. Nitre f. 4 Also to remoue and fordoe, skurffe, dandruffe, skales, skalles, scabbes, pimples, pushes, maunge, ringe-wormes, tetters, byles, buttons, drie lepries, and such. effectes.
1655 Natura Exenterata 152 This Salve is good for Wounds, Cuts, Cankers, Scabs, Redness or Buttons in the face, because its vertue is to cleanse and dissolve.
1676 tr. H. Busschof Gout i. ii, in Two Treat. 13 The evil setled on the midst of his foot, in the form of a protuberant hard pimple or button.
1829 Bateman's Pract. Synopsis Cutaneous Dis. (ed. 7) 270 The pustule of modified smallpox is converted into a small horny button, on the fifth day from the coagulation of the gelatinous lymph.
1888 C. M. Doughty Trav. Arabia Deserta II. xv. 452 I washed the wound..but a red button remained.
1900 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 5 259 More characteristic lesions [in hog cholera]..are the so-called ‘buttons’, viz., certain elevated circumscribed, round or oval areas of necrotic inflammation of firm consistence.
1909 J. Hutchinson Syphilis (new ed.) xi. 124 He was covered with the little buttons of molluscum contagiosum.
2001 M. Loubon in L. Winer Dict. Eng./Creole Trinidad & Tobago (2009) 148/1 My daughter does use it [sc. soap] to clear up the ‘buttons’.
c. In full Aleppo button, Baghdad button, Biskra button. The nodular, ulcerated sore that is the characteristic lesion of the protozoal disease cutaneous leishmaniasis; the disease itself; = oriental sore n. at oriental adj. and n. Compounds 2. Cf. bouton n. Additions. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > eruptive diseases > [noun] > Aleppo button
mal1732
Aleppo button1832
Baghdad button1832
Biskra button1832
Delhi sore1860
oriental sore1877
1832 I. Weld Statist. Surv. County Roscommon 429 (note) In the east there is a disease known by the name of the Aleppo Button, to which every person is liable once during life, who has visited any one of the three towns of Aleppo, Bagdad, or Damascus.
1849 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 1 586 The Aleppo button is well described in Tweedie's ‘Library of Practical Medicine’.
1874 Med. Times & Gaz. 24 Jan. 94/2 It is generally believed that the Aleppo Button takes about a year before it heals: hence the name of the year pimple, given to it by the natives.
1897 Daily News 18 Sept. 6/2 The ‘Bagdad button’ (a painful species of boil).
1911 T. E. Lawrence Home Lett. (1954) 138 The Aleppo button is the effect of a fly.
1969 A. K. Kurban & H. T. Chaglassian in R. Simons & J. Marshall Ess. Trop. Dermatol. 187 Various synonyms are used for oriental sore, depending on the region in which it is found, e.g., Aleppo boil, Baghdad boil, Delhi boil, Biskra button, Jericho boil and many others.
2014 Jrnl. Gen. Pract. 2 1 Healed scars of the Aleppo button recurred several years later.
8. The knob or bud which forms the beginning of a deer's antler. Now chiefly North American.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun] > body and parts > antler > knob forming beginning or tip of
broach1575
button1575
croche1575
tenderlings1575
bud1593
peg1611
scrotcher1611
seal1611
velvet tip1638
crocket1870
offer1884
nubbin1978
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xviii. 47 Hartes..beginne in..Marche and Apryll to thrust out their buttones.
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. at Pollard Butten is the first part in putting vp a Stagges head.
1897 Badminton Mag. Apr. 472 How easily that little buck, with mere buttons of horns, negotiated the stone dyke below, with the wire on the top of it!
1952 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 22 Dec. 14/4 The ‘buttons’ on a male fawn do not show above the hair line.
1983 R. J. Goss Deer Antlers vi. 125 Moose also produce antlers as calves, usually little more than ‘buttons’ hidden in the fur.
2008 C. Eberhart Whitetail Access viii. 186 His buttons are polished and about an inch long, and his coat is russet colored, like it should be in the summer.
9. slang.† a. In plural. The male genitals; the testicles. Also occasionally in singular: the penis. Obsolete.Usually as part of an extended metaphor; cf. buttonhole n. 3a.Slightly earlier currency may be implied by the use of bachelor's button in sexual puns and bawdy contexts; see discussion in G. Williams Dict. Sexual Lang. & Imagery in Shakespearean & Stuart Lit. I. (1994), at button, which gives examples from 1592 onwards. Cf. bachelor's buttons n. at bachelor n. Compounds 2. N.E.D. (1888) includes the related sense ‘the testes of an animal’, but no evidence for this use has been found.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sex organs > male sex organs > [noun]
genitalsa1393
jewelc1475
tackle1533
virility1598
emblemsa1625
virilities1646
genitalia1651
button1691
wally1698
family jewelsc1920
basket1941
crown jewel1970
lunchbox1972
junk1983
trouser department1985
package1993
1691 E. Ward Poet's Ramble 10 In then he call'd his pretty Daughter, In truth, which made my Chops to water; That I should scarce have made a scruple To've lent her Buttons to her Loop-hole.
1705 Wandering Spy 8 Sept. 59 I can draw two Buttons to a hole, without Needle or Thread.
1785 Amorous Jester 65 May every good button find a good button-hole.
b. The clitoris.In this sense probably influenced by sense 4a. Perhaps cf. also buttonhole n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun] > clitoris
clitoris1615
clitty1873
the little man in the boat1896
button1898
clit1958
1898 tr. Horn Bk. 10 It is called clitoris, button, etc., and is the seat of enjoyment for the woman.
c1924 W. W. Smith in P. Smith Let. from my Father (1976) 135 I rubbed my hot sex against her little button.
?c1930 Confessions Lady Beatrice 4 Edward's fingertips found my button.
1976 R. Nye Falstaff xl. 204 Get her hot with your tongue and fingers. Suck her nipples. Tickle her button. Then push your lance in an inch—and charge!
2011 N. R. Russell Versus 35 24 He loved flicking her button as she began to relax, only to watch her start writhing again.
c. Boxing (originally U.S.). The point of the chin, considered as a target for a punch. Frequently in on the button. Cf. (right) on the button at Phrases 12.In this sense probably influenced by sense 4a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > chin > [noun] > points of
pogonion1897
button1917
1917 N.Y. Times 29 May 12/1 Leonard sent over a right-hand blow, and followed with a light left which landed cleanly on the ‘button’, that part of a boxer's jaw which usually means unconsciousness when it has been hit.
1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) 278 I never saw a more accurate puncher than Rusty Charley, because he always connects with that old button.
1954 Pittsburgh Courier 4 Sept. ii. 4/4 Batie..went down from a terrific left hook to the button shortly after the opening bell.
1994 Observer 2 Oct. (Sport section) 7/2 The punch travelled maybe six inches, landing smack on the button, and put Lewis down.
2000 K. Norton et al. Going Distance xvi. 160 I hit Stephens with..a pulverizing left hook that caught him right on the button.
III. A discrete, rounded, or disc-shaped body, not attached to or forming part of a larger structure, typically but not necessarily small.
10. Any (small) approximately spherical or disc-shaped body or mass; a rounded knob or lump.Sometimes, esp. in later use, influenced by sense 1a.chocolate button, sugarallie button: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > curved three-dimensional shape or body > [noun] > sphericity or globularity > sphere > small sphere or globule
bayc1420
pommela1425
button1576
orbicle1610
globule1661
spherule1665
globeleta1718
globulet1746
beadlet1863
1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health iii. f. 125v A ball or great button made of the spyces tied round vp in a fine lynnen clothe.
a1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhemists New Test. (1618) 127 The clots or buttons of bloud in the garden [of Gethsemane].
1674 M. Hale Difficiles Nugæ iii. 36 Put in a little button of Wax, inclosing a peece of Lead to make it sink.
1709 D. Turner Remarkable Case in Surg. 6 An incised Artery, to the Mouth of which I clapt a small Button of Lint.
1758 B. Gooch Cases Surg. 134 We had recourse to a vitriol button, after stopping the course of the blood with a tourniquet.
1866 F. Bellew Art of Amusing v. 62 A marigold may be cut out of a round of carrot with a little button of beet-root for the centre.
1934 Manch. Guardian 17 May 4/7 A round button of turf splashing through the air.
2014 S. Barry Temporary Gentleman (2015) vi. 63 He proceeded to dab a little button of this stuff on each mosquito bite.
11. Chiefly English regional (esp. south-western). In plural. The dung or droppings of certain animals, esp. sheep or rabbits, typically being small and rounded in shape. Cf. earlier one's arse, etc., makes buttons at Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > body and parts of > droppings
treddlec1000
treddlingc1440
trittle1526
trickle1598
dribbling1599
trindle1607
sheep's pellet1647
button1684
1684 tr. S. Blankaart Physical Dict. 259 Scybala, are Sheeps, or Goats, &c. Buttons, or Excrement.
1746 Exmoor Scolding (ed. 3) ii. 9 Thy Wastcoat oll horry, and thy Pancrock a kiver'd wi' Briss and Buttons.
1749 W. Ellis Compl. Syst. Improvem. Sheep ii. ii. 148 This particular Sheep fed on the Fallow Grounds..so knit as to dung Buttons.
1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Buttons, sheeps dung. Sometimes used for dung in general. West.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Buttons,..sheep's droppings.
1909 Bull. Brit. Ornithologists' Club 23 79 Nest made of rabbit ‘buttons’.
1967 H. Orton & M. F. Wakelin Surv. Eng. Dial. IV. i. 380 Q[uestion]. What do you call the little black balls rabbits leave behind them in the fields? [Cornwall] Buttons.
1990 B. Powell Trapline ix. 88 On the way home I noticed that there were rabbit buttons all the way along on the snow.
12. Chemistry and Metallurgy. A small rounded mass of a metal or alloy, spec. a sample obtained after heating an ore to a high temperature to remove impurities, esp. in assaying. In later use also: a large mass of metal obtained from an industrial smelting process.See also button balance n. at Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical processes (general) > that which remains after > specific
button1758
the world > space > shape > unevenness > projection or prominence > protuberance or rounded projection > [noun] > a protuberance or protuberant part > knob
knob?a1425
knottle?a1500
bob1601
node1681
nub1696
umbo1753
button1758
knule1824
onion1825
umbonation1872
1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. II. 4 You will find at the bottom of the crucible a button of Regulus [Fr. un culot de Régule].
1801 R. Chenevix in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 91 221 He..obtained a metallic button, which was found to be Copper.
1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. Chem. 509 The result..is a button of gold mixed with silver.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1677/1 To regulate the quality..a button of pure tin weighing 182 grains was employed; a similar button of plate-pewter would weigh 1831/ 2 grains; of trifle, 1851/ 2 grains; and of ley, 1981/ 2 grains.
1932 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 230 223 The melted products remaining as ‘buttons’ or small ingots were apparently allowed to solidify and cool down in the crucible.
1967 A. K. Osborne Encycl. Iron & Steel Industry (ed. 2) 154/2 Owing to its high melting point, ferro tungsten cannot be tapped and the solid button of ferro tungsten, weighing about 6 tons, has to be taken from the cold furnace.
2011 Crystal Growth & Design 11 431/2 The solidified button still consists of multiple grains with segregated grain boundaries.
13. Surgery. A disc of tissue (originally bone, later also cornea or skin) removed with a trephine or punch.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [noun] > button-shaped
button1838
the world > life > the body > nervous system > nerve > specific nerves > [noun] > pairs of cranial nerves > specific cranial nerves > part of optic nerve
button1838
1838 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 4 Apr. 145 He accordingly trepanned the gentleman, taking out a button of bone about three quarters of an inch in diameter.
1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 633/1 The removal of a button of bone from the skull.
1888 Med. Analectic 5 455/2 This operation consists in first removing, by a delicate trephine, a button of corneal tissue.
1903 W. S. Bickham Text-bk. Operative Surg. ii. i. 483 In trephinings of small diameter the button is not generally replaced.
1913 Jrnl. Cutaneous Dis. 31 723 A button of skin about 6 mm. in width was removed with a Keyes' skin punch.
1945 Radiology 45 215/1 When a ‘button of bone’ was removed, the histologic picture was not that of metastatic tumor but of fibrous osteitis.
1979 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76 464/2 A corneal button was cut with an 11-mm trephine.
2014 A. K. O. Denniston & P. I. Murray Oxf. Handbk. Ophthalmol. (ed. 3) vii. 274 It [sc. corneal grafting] may involve full-thickness replacement of a button of corneal tissue.
14. English regional and Irish English. A small, conical heap of hay, grass, etc.; a haycock; (also) small haycocks collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > harvesting > [noun] > stooking > stook or cock
shockc1325
cocka1398
stook14..
poukera1450
haycockc1470
cop1512
stitch1603
pook1607
grass cock1614
hattock1673
stuckle1682
cocklet1788
coil?a1800
lap-cock1802
shuck1811
button1850
1850 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 11 i. 140 Sainfoin..is occasionally tedded and put up in small wisps and left for two or three days, and then made into button or small cock.
1996 S. Moylan Lang. Kilkenny 51 Button, the smallest hay-heap.
15. slang.
a. U.S. A small amount of heroin, enough for a single dose. Also occasionally: a small amount of any narcotic.Cf. sense 6e.
ΚΠ
1968 Current Slang 3 13 Button, a capsule of heroin; opium heated until it has crystallized, which can be injected or swallowed but is hard to smoke (Drug users' jargon).
1979 North Eastern Reporter 2nd Ser. 383 302/1 Her testimony that Tyrone Braxton gave her a ‘button’ of heroin which she injected.
1997 E. Little Another Day in Paradise iii. 30 He pauses, wrapping his arm with a necktie, slamming all four buttons at once.
2003 Criminology 41 821 Buy me two buttons of heroin and one button of girl (cocaine).
2011 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 24 June a2 Ten dollars buys a ‘button’ of heroin which can be either smoked or snorted, which is considered more socially acceptable than using a needle.
b. South African. A Mandrax tablet. Frequently in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > sedatives, antispasmodics, etc. > [noun] > sedative > specific drugs > tablet
bromo-tablet1916
yellow1952
button1979
1979 Cape Times 1 Dec. 11 A stolen item such as a radio..is offered to the gang leader for a ‘button, knoop or stop’.
1989 A. Searll It can't happen to Me 70 Mandrax tablets are commonly known in South Africa as ‘buttons’, 'knopies' or 'whites'.
2014 Afr. News (Nexis) 17 Mar. When immigrants arrive in Cape Town, they mostly live in the Cape flats because rent is cheap... People were doing tik, some doing buttons, some rocking marijuana.
IV. Senses referring to a person.† 17. British Criminals' slang. A decoy or accomplice, esp. one who lures others into gambling or who poses as a customer to encourage other buyers. Cf. buttoner n. 3. Obsolete.
16. colloquial. A bright, cheeky, or cute person, typically a child. Also: a person who lacks experience or skill; a novice (chiefly U.S. regional (western)). Cf. sense 1c, (as) cute as a button at Phrases 11, and (as) bright as a button at bright adj. and n. Phrases 1.
ΚΠ
?1772 Young Coalman's Courtship to Creelwife's Daughter (ed. 3) iii. 5 And wha think ye was in company we Kate the bride, but the wi' button of a taylor.
1889 T. A. Browne Nevermore iii. in Centennial Mag. (Austral.) Aug. 49/1 Their one child, an engaging little button of three years old, was one of the pets of the ship.
1913 T. W. Hanshew Cleek vi. 71 Bright young button, that Dollops, Cleek; exceedingly bright, b'gad.
1915 Dial. Notes 4 224 [West Texas] Button, a fresh fellow. ‘What a button he is!’
1942 Yank 16 Dec. 18 Even as a button, the jiggle of a Texas cow-gal's walk..fascinated me.
1967 New Pittsburgh Courier 20 May 18/1 They are the parents of a darling 15 month-old son... He is the cutest little button!
1985 M. L. Whipple in H. Cannon Cowboy Poetry 129 He learned this button how to ride.
1994 Daily Mail (Nexis) 22 Dec. 30 Victoria is a normal, happy, bright little button. She is now a very talkative four-year-old, going to school in January.
2010 D. Schwartz Little Cicero xxiv. 174 Victoria was this little button of a girl, very pretty, so much so, most wondered why she wanted to be a nun.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buyer > [noun] > bidder > type of
tenderer1650
ticketer1778
Peter1836
Peter Funk1840
Funk1842
button1851
underbidder1883
rick1928
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > defrauder or swindler > [noun] > decoy
stale1526
barnardc1555
barnacle1591
setter1591
tumbler1602
circling boy1631
moon-curser1673
sweetener1699
stool1825
stool-pigeon1830
bonnet1831
buttoner1839
button1851
steerer1873
plugger1886
shillaber1913
shill1916
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > a charlatan, fraudster > [noun] > performing spectators > assistant > in raising prices
setter1699
showman1797
bonnet1831
Funk1842
button1851
shill1916
ampster1941
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 328/1 Cheap Johns..have..a boy..at a fair, to hawk, or act as a button (a decoy), to purchase the first lot of goods put up.
1865 Leaves from Diary Celebrated Burglar 5/1 Here and there would be an ‘opening’ for a few ‘buttons’ in a ‘chat-pitching mob’.
1875 W. Besant & J. Rice This Son of Vulcan ix, in London Society Oct. 301/2 The ‘Button’, that is, the confederate who egged on the flats.
18. U.S. slang. A uniformed police officer. Frequently in plural, with the: the police. Cf. buttons n. 2b Now dated.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun]
police1798
police force1820
constabulary1837
the force1851
John Law1903
button1921
fuzz1929
law1929
Babylon1943
monaych1961
filth1967
heat1967
Bill1969
Old Bill1970
beast1978
blues and twos1985
dibble1990
po-po1994
1921 H. A. Franck Working North from Patagonia x. 225 I learned that..a policeman is a ‘button’ or a ‘cloud’.
1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xiii. 86 Go ahead, call the buttons.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang 460 Policeman..button.
1970 L. Sanders Anderson Tapes xxxi. 94 It pulled off all the precinct buttons [from their usual duties].
2004 E. Weiner Drop Dead, my Lovely xvi. 210 The deal is, I don't go to the buttons and sing my little heart out.
19. slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). A person who works as a killer or enforcer for or as a member of a Mafia family; short for button man n. (b) at Compounds 2a.
ΚΠ
1967 G. Samuels People vs. Baby xii. 136 At the top of each chart was the ‘Boss’. Under him came the ‘Underboss’, and below him the ‘Caporegime’ of eight or ten men. Arrowed below them were the ‘Buttons’ or ‘Soldiers’..the actual triggermen in the stratified structure.
1987 W. G. Tapply Dead Meat Prol. 2 ‘He's the button from Atlanta.’ Charlie smirked at me. ‘You've got the terms down pretty good, Counselor. Watching reruns of the Godfather flicks, huh?’
2002 J. Griffin & D. DeNevi Mob Nemesis i. 29 Each ‘family’ has..soldiers (buttons, members, made guys).
Phrases
P1. coarse slang. one's arse, etc., makes buttons: one is extremely worried or frightened. Similarly one's breeches make buttons. Also to make buttons: (of a person) to be extremely worried or frightened.With reference to an act of involuntary defecation: cf. sense 11 and to shit oneself at shit v. 3a.
ΚΠ
?c1565 Iacke Iugeler (new ed.) sig. B.iii His arse makith buttens now, and who lustith to feale Shall find his hart creping out at his heele.
1575 R. B. Apius & Virginia sig. B.ij Well I must begon, there is no remedy For feare my tayle makes buttons, by mine honesty.
1641 R. Brathwait Mercurius Britanicus i. sig. B They are in such danger, that as they say their breeches make buttons.
1662 A. Brome Rump (new ed.) 184 This Day a great Fart in the House they did hear, Which made all the Members make Buttons for fear.
1702 J. Tutchin Mouse grown Rat 23 My Breech began to make Buttons; I dream't of nothing but Impeachments, Attainders, Poll-Axes and Gibbets.
1848 J. Boyce Shandy M'Guire xi. 162 ‘I'll blow the sowl out i' ye.’ ‘Well..I was makin' buttons when I hard that.’
1985 A. Innaurato Coming of Age in Soho 21 (Patricia shifts nervously.) Pasquale. It's fun bantering with you like this, Bucky, but my sister's standing there makin' buttons.
2012 D. O'Donnell Locked Ward (2013) vi. 53 My arse making buttons, I stalked off up the corridor.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > prosper or flourish [verb (intransitive)] > prosper or be successful > be assured of success
it is in a person's buttonsa1616
to have (got) it made1944
to be golden1961
to have (got) it wired1976
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. ii. 63 'Tis in his buttons [1602 betmes], he will carry't. View more context for this quotation
1888 Notes & Queries 10 Nov. 365/1 In the Isle of Axholme..if speaking of a person's fitness for any particular undertaking, that he will easily do it, we say ‘it's in his buttons’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > utter in a chattering manner [verb (transitive)] > talk excessively to
word1602
to take (also seize, etc.) (a person) by the button1710
button-hold1838
buttonhole1848
to bend a person's ear1938
ear-bash1944
1710 Tatler 16 Dec. ¶3 Jasper Tattle Esq; was a most notorious Story-Teller;..he had detained another by the Button of his Coat that very Morning, till he had heard several witty Sayings and Contrivances of the Prosecutor's eldest Son.
1795 R. Cumberland Henry II. vi. xi. 317 He rose from his seat, when Henry,..taking him by the button, said—‘One more word if you please’.
1800 M. A. Hanway Andrew Stuart III. xiii. 235 My landlady having seized him by the button, and mounted her gossiping hobby, her career was not easily stopped.
1877 Sunday School Teacher 3 191 Another [teacher]..would perhaps take me by the button, and bore me for an hour about my spiritual condition.
1913 Nation 12 June 599/2 One person after another takes him by the button and astonishes him by telling him truths.
P4. colloquial. dash (also damn, dang, bless, etc.) my buttons: expressing surprise, astonishment, exasperation, dismay, etc. Often used to intensify or emphasize a statement. Now somewhat archaic and rare (chiefly North American in later use).
ΚΠ
1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans III. xxxii. 161 I'd soon make you dance to a dozen at the bilboes, that's what I would, d——n my buttons.
1796 ‘J. Quicksilver’ Blue Shop 19 Dang my buttons (exclaimed I) but this writer is mighty witty.
1843 P. Leigh Jack the Giant Killer 18 ‘Dash my buttons,’ he cried, ‘I have lost my way!’
1879 A. W. Tourgée Fool's Errand (1880) xliv. 332 Ding my buttons if she ain't more Southern than any of our own gals! It won't do for such a gal as that to go North for a husband.
1907 Mitchell (S. Dakota) Daily Republican 7 May Blow my buttons! Wot d'ye want? Ain't ye got a tongue?
1935 N.Y. Times 11 May 12/2 Dash my buttons! That's a good one!
1971 Columbia Missourian 25 Sept. 4/1 Bless my buttons! Doris Day falls in love.
P5. Chiefly Nautical. button and eye (or †loop): a length of rope, leather, etc., with a loop or eye at one end and a knot at the other, used as a fastening or tie. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > becket
becket1769
button and eye (or loop)1794
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 163 Button and Loop, a short piece of rope, having at one end a walnut knot, crowned, and at the other end an eye. It is used as a becket to confine ropes in.
1908 Animal Managem. (War Office) 145 Button and eye pattern.—A loop of leather or webbing, one end of which is doubled into an eye, and the other gathered into a toggle or button.
1944 C. W. Ashley Ashley Bk. Knots xl. 523 A button and eye strap, for quick adjustment to a spar. Either a Matthew Walker Knot or a Manrope Knot may be used.
ΚΠ
1795 G. Colman New Hay at Old Market i. i. 10 My father was an eminent Button-maker..but I had a soul above buttons, and..panted for a liberal profession.
1841 Odd Fellow 23 Oct. 170/2 He..has a soul above buttons, and affecting the gentleman, he falls into the hands of Sir Philip's valet.
1855 Pioneer (San Francisco) Oct. 25 Would you imagine..that [he]..has a soul above buttons, that he is a man of the finest sentiment, of the most exquisite sensibility?
1894 N.Z. Parl. Deb. 84 311/1 I..appreciate poetry, and, without being egotistical, I think that shows that I have a mind above buttons.
1902 N.Y. Times 27 Aug. (Mag. Suppl.) 8/2 We want something better than soup bones, blackheads, and bugs... The men..have an idea that women have no soul above buttons.
P7. † b. to put (a person) into buttons: to dress (a person) in a manservant's or pageboy's livery. Hence: to place (a person) in domestic service, as a manservant or pageboy. Obsolete.
a. in buttons: wearing livery, esp. in boy (also man, etc.) in buttons: a manservant in livery, a pageboy. Cf. button boy n. at Compounds 2a and buttons n. 1 Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > [noun] > liveried > boy > page
in buttons1842
button boy1844
buttons1848
pageboy1859
1842 Bentley's Misc. Jan. 54 Despatches..brought by a little boy in buttons.
1857 Train Mar. 159 Clang! went the visitors' bell..and out came a sharp lad in buttons.
1876 A. Trollope Prime Minister II. xi. 172 During dinner..they were attended by a page in buttons whom he had hired to wait upon her.
1885 Chambers's Jrnl. 22 Aug. 541/2 Hi, hi! you boy there—you in buttons!
1905 Idler Apr. 548/1 Dickson..tipped a wink to the man in buttons as he passed.
1938 Scotsman 18 Mar. 16/4 A boy in buttons, whose ingratiating bow and greeting as you entered would make you..feel completely at home.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > [verb (transitive)] > make a page of
to put (a person) into buttons1846
1846 W. M. Thackeray Snobs of Eng. xxxix, in Punch 28 Nov. 225/2 We have a coachman and a helper, but we don't put the latter into buttons, nor make them wait at table.
1876 Belgravia July 77 A..crafty young scamp,..he was put into buttons and made the page-boy of the establishment.
1898 Quiver Jan. 491/2 His father and grandfather before him had been butlers..and.., when quite a lad, he had been put into buttons.
P8. Preceded by a numeral, forming attributive phrases and derived nouns designating something (esp. a garment or an electrical or electronic device) having the specified number of buttons, as two-button, ten-button, etc.
ΚΠ
1856 Morning Post 1 Aug. One or two dozen pairs of soiled ladies' two-button gloves wanted.
1884 W. D. Howells in Harper's Mag. Dec. 117/1 What if he should bring a ten-button instead of an eight!
1915 Electr. World 6 Nov. 1049/1 A three-button control panel for opening, closing or stopping the door.
1921 Boot & Shoe Recorder 29 Oct. 155/1 Spats..are moving rapidly. The twelve-button is the favorite with the women folks.
1988 PC Mag. 16 Feb. 202/3 The three-button mouse..may provide greater flexibility in some applications.
1990 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 20 May d3 Band leader Ward Lamand..plays a 10-button accordion.
2007 J. Burdett Godfather of Kathmandu xvi. 111 I'm in a four-button, double-breasted blazer.., tropical wool flannel slacks, and..patent leather slip-ons.
P9. colloquial. one's buttons: one's mental faculties, wits, sanity. Used in various phrases, typically denoting (in negative contexts) an absence of rationality or diminishing intellectual powers, as not to have (got) all one's buttons (on), to have some of one's buttons off, to be losing one's buttons, etc. Also similarly to be a button short. Conversely to have all one's buttons (on): to be in full possession of one's mental faculties.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mental deficiency > be mentally deficient [verb (intransitive)]
a screw loose1810
not to have (got) all one's buttons (on)1859
the world > health and disease > mental health > be sane [verb (intransitive)]
to be one's own man (also woman, person)1556
to have all one's buttons (on)1890
1859 Always Ready xviii. 249 He's not a cadger, or a stuck-up looney; neither is he a button short, for he's all there.
1867 Family Herald 3 Aug. 216/1 What does that mean? That I've got a tile off—a screw loose? Not got all my buttons?
1890 Daily News 21 May 6/3 He is 83 years of age, but as we say hereabouts, has all his buttons on.
1892 Weekly Suppl. to Leeds Mercury 23 Jan. 7/4 In Wilsden, a person..lacking full mental capacities has ‘some of his buttons off’.
1911 F. Dumont Old New Hampsh. Home iii. 40 Tilly. Girl, I believe you've gone crazy since you left home. Muffins. Not me, aunty. I've got all my buttons.
1949 Billboard 9 Apr. 114/2 Critical friends..inferred Ferla didn't have all of his buttons about a year ago when he became involved in the rebuilding of Rocky Point Park.
1971 W. Stegner Angle of Repose iv. i. 184 Any signs of, you know, failing? Still seem to have all his buttons?
2013 J. McBride Good Lord Bird iii. xxix. 369 The Old Man was losing his buttons. I weren't in the mood to say good-bye to him.
P10. Phrases with push, press, and semantically related verbs and nouns.
a. at the touch (also press, click, etc.) of a button: used to emphasize the ease and speed with which something can be carried out or achieved, merely by pressing a button on a device (typically an electrical one).
ΚΠ
1887 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 22 Mar. 7/1 Chief Ebersold was called in and took a position at the Central Station telephone, and, at the touch of a button, was ready to bring his whole force under arms in a few hours.
1911 Electr. Rev. 2 Dec. 1128/2 At the touch of a button this desk disappears through the floor, and in its place a steaming tureen of soup arises ready for serving.
1972 Guardian 24 Oct. 24/3 BBC engineers have invented a system which would give television viewers thirty television ‘pages’ of news at the push of a button.
1995 K. Toolis Rebel Hearts (1996) iii. 155 An individual wing would be sealed off at the flick of a button.
2016 Irish Times (Nexis) 26 Nov. (Weekend section) 2 We have access to a whole world of information that we previously would not have had access to. And it's there at the touch of a button.
b. to press (also push) the button: to initiate a process or undertaking; to set something in progress, esp. so as to bring about a particular outcome. Cf. sense 4c.Originally with allusion to an advertising slogan for Kodak cameras; see quot. 1890.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > be efficacious [verb (intransitive)]
workOE
availa1400
makea1400
prevaila1400
to hit the nail upon (or on) the headc1450
effect1592
serve1593
to tickle it1601
take1611
executea1627
to have force (to do)1713
answer1721
to take place1789
to do the trick1819
to hit (also go to, touch, etc.) the spot1836
produce1881
to press (also push) the button1890
to come through1906
to turn the trick1933
to make a (also the) point1991
1890 N.Y. Times 18 Oct. 2/5 We have plenty of money to spend in good work, but we are like the Kodak Company. We want a good man to press the button; we'll do the rest.
1893 Amer. Economist 25 Aug. 100/2 Confidence and prosperity will return only when William McKinley ‘presses the button’ and starts the wheels of progress.
1914 E. Grey in Great Brit. & European Crisis 64 Mediation was ready to come into operation..if only Germany would ‘press the button’ in the interests of peace.
1936 J. Hanley Secret Journey ii. xii. 361 It's him who presses the button—who makes the borrowers dance—aye, he'd make Mother dance. He's got her in a trap.
1952 Catholic Hist. Rev. 37 498 Soviet imperialism..lay dormant from 1921 until Hitler pushed the button that started World War II.
1994 Irish Times 19 Feb. 2/5 The commander of the United Nations forces..will..forever be known as the man who ‘pressed the button’ and triggered all-out war with the Serbs.
2012 D. C. Friend Drowning in Dark ii. 11 She made the phone call that got the whole ball rolling. She was the one who ‘pushed the button’ so to speak.
c. colloquial (originally U.S.) to push (also press) (all) the (right) buttons and variants: to have or demonstrate all the necessary or sought-after qualities, characteristics, or skills.Cf. to tick all the right boxes at box n.2 Phrases 11.
ΚΠ
1937 C. Odets Golden Boy ii. iii. 146 You push the buttons, the right buttons. I wanna see Bonaparte with the crown.
1961 Freedom of Communication: Final Rep. U.S. Senate Commerce Comm. 87th Congr., 1st Sess. 702 I hear Ralph Houk is a fine young man who worked hard and waited long for this job, and if he pushes all the right buttons now he may wind up with as many oil wells as Casey Stengel.
1980 Chem. Week (Nexis) 12 Nov. 16 While he was on the campaign trail, President-elect Ronald Reagan seemingly pushed all the right buttons for business.
1987 S. Fiffer How to watch Baseball vi. 122 Howser seems to be pushing all the right buttons now. Biancalana singles, and Balboni stops at third.
2010 Washington Post 13 Oct. (Sports section) d7 Caldwell pressed the right buttons last season after inheriting the team from his retired predecessor.
d. colloquial. to push (also press) a person's button(s) and variants: to elicit or provoke a reaction in a person; to manipulate someone psychologically or emotionally.Cf. button pusher n. 2, button pushing n. 2, and button pushing adj. 2.
ΚΠ
1966 Sat. Evening Post 15 Jan. 36/4 Take it easy, man... Who pushed your button today?
1983 J. Macy Despair & Personal Power viii. 154 Developments and encounters can ‘push our buttons’ of fear and defensiveness.
1991 N.Y. Times 5 Nov. a18/6 I was real careful not to push any of her buttons because she had all the information and was going through her own emotional trauma.
2015 Telegraph-Jrnl. (New Brunswick) (Nexis) 18 Apr. c2 My kids know how to push my buttons. They are clever and devious.
P11. (as) cute as a button: extremely attractive; adorable, charming. Cf. sense 16.
ΚΠ
1913 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Morning Jrnl. 27 Apr. (Society section) 2/3 Sam Pickard as ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ was ‘cute as a button’.
1938 Arizona Independent Republic 3 Dec. 5/5 (advt.) Dress your darling in cute-as-a-button coats with matching hat or cap.
1993 B. Kruger Remote Control (1994) 196 He's cute as a button, gosh darn naive, and sports that lucky kind of face, as comfy on the assembly line as at the country club.
2011 Times 13 Aug. (Sat. Review) 26/1 A cute-as-a-button little robot with a TV for a head and a bucketload of delightful expressions.
P12. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.) (right) on the button.
a. Used adverbially: in exactly the right place; right on target; at exactly the right time, punctually, precisely. Also in to hit it (right) on the button: to get it exactly right or absolutely correct (cf. to hit (also †smite) the (right) nail on the head at nail n. Phrases 1b).Cf. sense 9c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > particular time > [adverb] > at a particular or certain time > precisely
rightsc1400
just1605
(right) on the button1925
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > [adverb] > exactly so, just
rightOE
evenOE
alrightOE
allOE
evenlya1375
preciselyc1443
very1530
meet1543
on the spot1884
(right) on the button1925
spot on2009
1925 N.Y. Times 17 Aug. 11/1 Struck with the excellence of the first pitch, he hit it on the button and jabbed a vicious drive to right field.
1928 B. Hecht & C. MacArthur Front Page i. 34 He takes a final drink from the flask, then aims and throws it out the window. A scream of rage arises...On the button!
1945 M. Millar Iron Gates i. iv. 67 Even D'arcy hits it on the button sometimes. I think he's right.
1951 Washington Post 27 Dec. 12 b/3 (advt.) Sale-savings that would be rare on current, this-season coats... Be here on the button for yours.
1967 Westways Nov. 6/1 George Porter..glanced at his watch. Seven o'clock. Right on the button.
1990 Observer 23 Sept. 3/4 The bloke who said there's no place like home hit it right on the button.
2013 C. Hill Hidden 277 I'd have to be there at twelve o'clock on the button.
b. Used predicatively: exactly right, absolutely correct; perfect.
ΚΠ
1942 N.Y. Times 27 Dec. vii. 11/3 (advt.) In any job where good stuff, good craftsmanship and good headwork mean everything, Sloane is right on the button!
1946 Washington Post 24 Oct. 9/4 The timing between you and the ball holder must be right on the button.
1962 J. Glenn in J. Glenn et al. Into Orbit 142 All the factors of the flight..would have to be right on the button or we would not get into a proper orbit. There was little tolerance for errors.
1969 Chicago Daily Defender 29 Dec. 29/2 Everything we did was on the button. When you have prepared..as hard as these guys..and then lose..it is tough.
1993 S. McAughtry Touch & Go x. 80 ‘You're a single man and it's a free country.’ I nodded: ‘You're on the button there, all right’.
2009 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 7 Oct. 39 He was right on the button with his prediction.
P13. (as) bright as a button: see bright adj. and n. Phrases 1; to burst one's buttons: see burst v. 8b; (it is) dollars to buttons: see dollar n. 3c.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive and objective (in sense 1a), as button factory, button-maker, button-making, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > producer > makers of other articles > [noun] > of part of finished article > of buttons
button-maker1589
1589 Temporis Filia Veritas (title page) Bennion the Button-maker: and Balthesar the Barber.
1638 J. Lilburne Worke of Beast 10 The said Edmond Chillington Button Seller living in Canon street.
1687 Royal Proclam. in London Gaz. No. 2297/1 The Trade of Button-making.
1703 Observator 3 Mar. The Button-Trade is very beneficial to the Woollen-Manufacture.
1798 I. Sequeira New Merchant's Guide 205 Engines for making Button-Shanks.
1840 Newcastle Courant 6 Mar. ii. 4/3 One of the buttons was solidly built up with clay on the inside (that is, round the button neck).
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. iv. 50 These horns..would find a ready sale among the button-workers of England.
1883 Birmingham Daily Post 11 Oct. 3/2 (advt.) Button-stamper, for Brace and Shell Work.
1906 R. Carothers Mother's Walter ii. 36 The old button box was emptied out upon the kitchen floor.
1916 Bulletin (National Soc. Promotion Industr. Educ.) No. 21. 382 A good button sewer can sew on about 390 dozen buttons a day.
1960 E. L. Rewald & D. Rewald tr. B. Grzimek & M. Grzimek Serengeti shall not Die (1961) xii. 233 A button manufacturer from Scarsdale, New York, had just returned.
2006 P. E. Dans et al. Life on Lower East Side 35 I worked in a button factory... Very boring work.
b. Similative, with the sense ‘resembling or suggestive of a button, esp. in being small and rounded’, as button eye, button mouth, etc. Cf. sense 1c and also button nose n. at Compounds 2a.
ΚΠ
1735 J. Moore Columbarium 53 It is a small Pigeon..; it has a round button Head.
1859 Monthly Packet June 605 He had even won a smile from the little button-mouth of the small Albinia.
1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve III. iv. iv. 211 A little man in a bob wig, with a turned-up nose and a button chin.
1966 Daily Mail 24 Mar. 18/2 Her bright little button face suffused in a seraphic beam.
2010 J. Manning Killing Room 14 In front of her..sat a baby, its round button eyes staring.
C2.
a. See also button-hold v., button holder n., buttonhole n., buttonhole v., buttonholer n., buttonhook n., button pusher n., etc.† button astragal n. Gunnery Obsolete rare (on a cannon) a narrow, raised ring or moulding around the button (sense 2d).† button-board n. Obsolete a type of pasteboard used for making buttons.† button boy n. Obsolete a manservant (usually in livery); a pageboy; cf. boy (also man, etc.) in buttons at Phrases 7a and buttons n. 1.† button cap n. Obsolete a cap with a decorative knob on the peak of the crown; cf. sense 2a.† button fastener n. Obsolete a loop or clasp for securing a button on a garment or shoe; spec. a spring loop, the free ends of which are passed through the shank of a button; = button key n.† button hanger n. Obsolete a small, ornamental tassel, typically made of silk, attached to the interior or exterior of a carriage; cf. sense 3d.† button iron n. Obsolete an instrument with a small knob at the end used for cauterizing; cf. button cautery n. and iron n.1 8.† button key n. Obsolete a spring loop, whose free ends are passed through the shank of a button where they expand outwards in order to secure it to a garment; cf. button fastener n.† button metal n. Obsolete any of various alloys (typically containing copper and zinc) used in the manufacture of buttons.† button nail n. Obsolete a nail with a convex, rounded head.† button-nosed mole n. Obsolete rare the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata.† button-pointed adj. Obsolete (a) Fencing (of a sword, esp. a foil) having a button (sense 2c) on its point; (b) Surgery (of a surgical instrument) terminating in a small knob; having a blunt or bulbous end (cf. sense 2b).† button regal n. Music Obsolete rare an organ reed stop consisting of a short, narrow cylinder topped with a hollow, perforated, ball-shaped knob, used in German organs of the 18th cent. [After German Knopfregal (1618 or earlier).] † button-scar n. Obsolete rare a button-shaped scar, typically resulting from cauterization, made (usually on the face or ridge of the nose) as part of a traditional ritual or cosmetic practice among some East, Central, and southern African peoples. [In quot. 1897 with reference to Afrikaans Knopneuzen , Knoopneuzen (plural: see knobnose n.), lit. ‘knob-noses, button-noses’, former name (used by European settlers) of the Tsonga people of southern Africa, on account of their former practice of wearing a row of nodular scars along the ridge of the nose, in this passage apparently interpreted by the translator as denoting the scars themselves (the passage translated uses the Afrikaans name in a German context; a more literal translation would be ‘the so-called Knopneuzen, among whom a row of button-shaped warty scars..’).] † button tool n. Obsolete (a) a round-headed cutting tool; (b) a tool used to cut out buttons or blanks for buttons.With quot. 1852 cf. sense 3h.
button accordion n. an accordion which uses buttons, rather than a keyboard, to sound the melody; cf. piano accordion n. at piano n.2 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1931 Daily Texan (Univ. Texas, Austin) 9 Apr. Mr. Strid..does not hesitate to perspire freely over a ‘button’ model accordion out of which he elicits some tricky versions of ‘The Peanut Vender’ and other melodies.]
1935 North Adams (Mass.) Transcript 15 Aug. 17/4 (advt.) Hohner Button Accordion—Excellent condition, 62 notes, 18 bass.
1999 S. Quinn in F. Vallely Compan. Irish Trad. Music 1/1 The accordions used in Irish music are known as melodeon, button accordion and piano accordion.
2013 N.Y. Times 29 Sept. tr4/3 A taste of traditional Cajun cuisine and old-time music—sung in French to the accompaniment of fiddle, guitar and button accordion.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > raised band on cannon > on breech
base ring1626
carnouse1626
button1640
button astragal1847
neck fillet1859
frettage1882
1847 A. F. Oakes Young Artillery Officer's Assistant vii. 14 Name the several parts of a gun?..Button. Button astragal. Neck.
1876 G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 270/1 Neck,..that portion of metal behind the breech ogee, termed the neck of the cascable, and which is contained between the neck fillet and the button astragal.
button-back n. the back of an upholstered chair, sofa, etc., where the stuffing is held in place with buttons; (also) a chair, sofa, etc., with such a back; chiefly attributive, as button-back chair, button-back sofa, etc.
ΚΠ
1880 Standard 18 Nov. 1 (advt.) The dining-room consists of a suite of furniture.., in solid walnutwood frames, spring stuffed, button backs, and highly finished.
1920 Manitoba Free Press 7 June 12/5 (advt.) 1 button back chair at..$63.00.
1944 C. G. Booth Mr. Angel comes Aboard v. 31 It struck him that this was the first time he'd ever sat in the button-back.
1956 Times 2 Apr. 9 A mass of do-it-yourself literature, covering everything from upholstering button-back sofas to taking off that ugly old tiled roof.
1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 39/1 Cosy old pub with pink button-back banquettes.
2016 Sunday Times (Nexis) 4 Sept. (Home section) 42 There's the blue Victorian button-back sofa, gone at the middle, with an Indian cotton throw and a lot of scrunched cushions.
button badge n. a badge, usually consisting of a small, circular piece of metal, bearing an image or slogan, and typically worn to indicate a person's membership of a group or support for a cause, political party, etc.; cf. sense 1d.
ΚΠ
1840 Ohio Statesman 13 May Pictorial devices—ribbons, and plated button badges.
1914 Jrnl. Amer. Pharmaceut. Assoc. Jan. 158/2 The button badge would..be an excellent aid to the Committee on Membership if given without cost to new members.
1978 Times 22 Mar. 16/9 The Department of the Environment is marketing..Tower ties, leather bookmarks, drinks mats, button badges and T-shirts.
2009 W. Fiennes Music Room ii. 118 Julian wore a Siouxsie and the Banshees button badge on his denim jacket.
button balance n. now chiefly historical a set of scales for weighing metal buttons (sense 12), esp. for the purposes of assay.
ΚΠ
1883 W. T. Brannt tr. B. Kerl Assayer's Man. 70 Bullion or button balance, inclosed in a case, for weighing gold and silver beads and alloys of precious metals.
1900 Coal & Metal Miners' Pocket Bk. (ed. 6) 576 Button Balance.
1981 Jrnl. Geol. Educ. 29 72/2 In the case at the left is a very sensitive ‘button’ balance for weighing gold and silver ‘buttons’.
button bar n. Computing a toolbar consisting of a row or column of buttons (sense 4d).
ΚΠ
1989 ZTERM 0.7 is out! in comp.sys.mac (Usenet newsgroup) 23 Jan. This [full color icon bar] replaces the previous fixed position button bar.
2003 S. O'Hara Easy Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 i. 18 To add or remove buttons from the Button Bar, click Add or Remove Buttons.
2017 M. C. Munro Learn FileMaker Pro16 xxxii. 684 A button bar might have one size, style, and color of border while the divider might have different border settings.
button bashing n. colloquial the action or an act of hitting buttons on a computer keyboard, game controller, etc., rapidly, repetitively, or randomly; cf. button mashing n.
ΚΠ
1986 Spectator 22 Mar. 24/3 Computers..can break as a result of totally natural, actually understandable causes—too many users, excessive button-bashing.
1998 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 21 Mar. i11 It is disappointing that you are not really rewarded if you show greater skill—fast button-bashing works as well as anything.
2013 T. Krzywinska in W. Hughes et al. Encycl. Gothic I. 266/2 Rationality and logic are valued over carefully timed actions or manic button-bashing.
button battery n. a small battery shaped like a disc or squat cylinder; = button cell n.
ΚΠ
1955 Electronics Jan. 14/1 (caption) Plastic potted transistorized radio transmitter goes in the nose of 20-mm projectiles... Button battery in center powers unit.
1988 S. E. McKay New Child Safety Handbk. iv. 63/2 Occasionally a button battery, found in watches, calculators, hearing aids and such, may get trapped in the windpipe.
2006 Times (Nexis) 14 Oct. 16 Flashing dog collar... It's made of shock-resistant material and the white LEDs last up to 70 hours on two lightweight button batteries.
button blank n. a small disc of plastic, metal, horn, etc., from which a button is made.
ΚΠ
1809 J. Watt in H. W. Dickinson Matthew Boulton (2010) 203 I saw..a shaking box put in motion by the mill for scowering button blanks & other small pieces of metal.
1842 Repertory Patent Inventions 17 2 Work people..use nippers or pliers to hold the shanks when pressing them into the button blanks.
1907 E. W. Sanderson Census of Manufactures 1905: Pens & Pencils (U.S. Bureau of Census Bulletin No. 85) 21/2 The button blanks..were all fresh water pearl.
1996 Times of India 30 Jan. 2/3 (advt.) Available..cow/buffalo horn button blanks for export.
button blanket n. North American (among certain North American Indian peoples of the Northwest Coast) a woollen blanket elaborately ornamented with mother-of-pearl buttons (often to depict the owner's clan crest), traditionally worn as a ceremonial cloak.
ΚΠ
1888 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 1 60 The latter [sc. the women] wear button-blankets, head-rings of cedar bark which is dyed red, and their hair are [sic] strewn with eagle-down.
1912 Southern Workman Aug. 477 The women dancers who assisted at times are given bracelets, and the men who sang, button blankets.
1996 B. Maracle Back on Rez ii. ii. 10 Zoe emerged from ritual seclusion dressed in her potlatch regalia—a red-on-blue button blanket emblazoned with a huge eagle crest.
2016 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 1 June (Ontario ed.) s7 She was best known for her elaborate button blankets illustrating family crests and clans.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > material for making paper > paper > materials made from paper or pulp > [noun] > pasteboard > for specific uses
button-board1794
linerboard1961
1794 Kearsley's Ann. Eight-penny Tax Tables 1794–5 58 Paper, except sheating paper, and button paper, or button board, made in Great Britain.
1841 Repertory Patent Inventions 16 338 A circular disc of button-board suitable for forming the internal core of a button.
1903 Standard 1 Aug. 15/2 A machine..presses the card-board or button-board into shape, forming a solid button with the shank.
button boot n. now chiefly historical a type of close-fitting boot fastened with a row of buttons on the outer side extending from the foot to the top of the boot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > fastened in specific way
cockerc1390
spit-boot1707
wrapper1808
wrapping boot1808
button boot1831
Balmoral1857
1831 Sheffield Independent & Yorks. & Derbyshire Advertiser 26 Mar. (advt.) Ladies' best stuff gallashed button boots.
1883 Daily News 14 Feb. 3/4 A long overcoat, button boots, and cloth cap.
1924 Irish Times 2 Feb. 1/7 (advt.) Black glace kid lace or button boots, no toe caps, seamless, flexible soles.
1999 V. Lawson Out of Sky she Came ii. xii. 228 Recalling her girlish days when she wore a pinafore and button boots.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > [noun] > liveried > boy > page
in buttons1842
button boy1844
buttons1848
pageboy1859
1844 Hood's Mag. Jan. 65 Elaborately prepared impromptus..ready for adorning ‘the virgin page’. (I don't mean the button-boy).
1876 R. Broughton Joan I. i. xii. 250 Servants do despise governesses..; the button-boy never would answer her bell when she rang.
1913 Scribner's Mag. Dec. 700/2 The glorious army of caddies and button boys, the little pages and messengers of all sorts.
button-brace n. rare (now historical) a tool for cutting button blanks; cf. brace n.2 6.
ΚΠ
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 416/2 Button-brace, a tool for making buttons. The handle is like the common brace; the bit has cutters, but no router, and removes a circular blank or planchet of bone..or whatever the material may be.
1985 Carpenter Dec. 18/2 Our tool collectors come through with the answers... It's a plated Sheffield button brace of English design, manufactured in Philadelphia.
button brass n. †(a) any of various types of brass used for making buttons (obsolete); (b) a device used in polishing metal buttons on a military uniform, etc., that holds the buttons steady and protects the surrounding fabric from polish, consisting of a small, oblong brass plate with openings into which a button or buttons are inserted (cf. button stick n.) (now historical and rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > [noun] > shield used in button-polishing
button stick1807
button brass1849
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun] > brass > types of
maslinOE
latten1340
messing1371
orichalcc1429
shruff1541
black latten1545
mellay1545
medley brass1600
medley1601
shaven latten1660
latten-brass1677
brass-latten1678
similor1778
pig brass1841
Muntz metal1842
button brass1849
oreide1857
voltaic brass1860
semilor1866
naval brass1881
1849 U.S. Pract. Receipt Bk. 95 Button maker's common brass. Button brass, 6 parts; tin, 1 part; lead, 1 part. Melt.
1860 J. E. Alexander Mil. Exam. Junior Officers Infantry (ed. 2) 38 One fatigue jacket,..one holdall, knife, fork, and spoon,..button brass, and brass brush.
1884 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts 3rd Ser. 16/2 For button brass, an alloy of 8 parts of copper and 5 of zinc is commonly used by the Birmingham makers, under the name of ‘platin’.
1899 Daily News 27 Dec. 8/3 The ‘button brass’... This little plate tucked under the button with its shank in the slit enables the button to be well rubbed without mischief.
1927 Internat. Crit. Tables (National Res. Council (U.S.)) II. 373/2 Button brass..Cu, 90; Zn, 10; Sn, 0.5.
1940 Country Life 19 Oct. 340/1 The general hunted for the various articles—polishing-brushes, spare shirts and socks, and the button brass.
button bud n. a small, rounded, unopened flower bud; cf. sense 6a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > bud > [noun]
burgeoninga1340
bud1398
burging1398
burgeona1400
tendron14..
buttona1425
pumple1523
oillet1574
dodkin1578
pimple1582
eyelet1600
knot1601
eye1618
budleta1864
button bud1869
break1933
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone I. xvii. 197 The opening cones were struck with brown, in between the button buds.
1930 Manch. Guardian 8 Feb. 9/6 Mounds of Saxifraga apiculata are studded with button-buds nearly ready to bubble into flower.
2009 L. Hawthorne Gardening with Shape, Line & Texture 79/2 The stems..produce..clusters of button buds and small..lavender-pink flowers.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > cap > types of > other
toque1505
biggin1511
button cap1527
undercap1531
biggin1558
fool's cap1577
apex1578
blue capa1586
wishing-cap1600
Wantage cap1609
infernal1610
porringer1623
montera1626
montera cap1652
school cap1736
wing cap1775
balloon1784
balloon-cap1785
spider-cap1790
poke-fly cap1810
strap-cap1820
mandarin cap1835
porringer-cap1839
chechia1853
turban1862
mitre1877
turban-cap1881
half-cap1893
pillbox cap1897
Queen Mary hat1928
snap-back1937
songkok1960
pakul1982
1527 Inventory 26 June in J. S. Brewer Lett. & Papers Reign Henry VIII (1872) (modernized text) IV. ii. 1455 5 French caps, and 4 button caps.
1565 T. Harding Confut. Apol. Church of Eng. iii. iv. f. 146 Do not some among you weare square cappes, some rounde cappes, some butten cappes?
1657 T. Brewer Merry Jests of Smug sig. E2 Smug..put on working day apparell, with his old Sheepes-Russet-Button-Cap.
button cautery n. now historical and rare a cauterizing iron terminating in a disc.
ΚΠ
1672 R. Wiseman Treat. Wounds ii. App. ii. 93 You will cauterize the Vessels by a Button-Cautery.
1921 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 16 July 97/2 I have been in the habit of applying a button cautery to the centre of each infected area.
1934 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 23 596/1 A button cautery was recommended for the control of hemorrhage.
button cell n. a small battery shaped like a disc or squat cylinder; = button battery n.
ΚΠ
1948 Trans. Electrochem. Soc. 92 189 Barriers such as dialysis grade parchment paper, thin ceramic discs or other ionically permeable elements..were not as adaptable to the button cell.
1978 Jrnl. Electrochem. Soc. 125 333 c/2 The Gould zinc-air button cell is..used in hearing aids and other devices which require a moderately high current.
1991 J. Makower et al. Green Consumer Supermarket Guide ii. 120 Button-cell batteries—used in hearing aids, calculators, and watches—are economical to recycle because they contain a high percentage of mercury.
2003 Total DVD Dec. 111/1 The remote control..is fairly large despite, annoyingly, taking a button cell rather than AAA batteries.
button click n. the action or an act of clicking a button; (now usually) spec. (Computing) the action or an act of clicking a button on a mouse, or similar device, as a means of selecting a particular item or activating a program function.
ΚΠ
1969 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 13 Dec. 48/3 This generation of kids, alas, has a fantastic ear for the sound of a button-click.
1994 Washington Post 4 Apr. 18/4 You'll..need to be comfortable with your mouse. Nothing is more frustrating than a pointing device that sticks or doesn't respond to your button clicks.
2010 T. O'Hailey Hybrid Animation vi. 176 Each software package you use brings a different set of button clicks, and with each version those button clicks will change.
button ear n. (in dogs) an ear that is erect at the base but with the tip folded forward to close the opening, regarded as a desirable characteristic in some breeds and a fault in others.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > parts of > parts of) ear(s)
prick ears1573
button ear1867
tulip ear1877
leather1883
1867 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports (ed. 7) iv. ii. i. 662/2 The button ear falls in front, hiding the interior completely.
1952 A. W. Hunter Leighton's Compl. Bk. Dog (rev. ed.) 73 Unfortunately, within the last few years the ‘button’ and ‘semi-tulip’ ear have been rather prevalent.
2010 S. B. Morn Pug Our Best Friends ii. 19/1 Two ear shapes are acceptable in show Pugs. These are termed the ‘rose ear’ and the ‘button ear’.
button-eared adj. (of a dog) having button ears.
ΚΠ
1913 Observer (Adelaide) 5 July 15/5 There was a good sprinkling of button eared specimens with a resulting lack of character and expression so necessary to the breed.
1945 Thomasville (Georgia) Times-Enterprise 17 Mar. 2/6 When the tip of the ear drops over in front covering the ear canal a dog is often called button-eared.
1984 Reader's Digest Illustr. Bk. Dogs 235 Rose-eared or button-eared, with the latter preferred.
button farcy n. now rare a form of the equine disease glanders characterized by the formation of nodular swellings in the skin, esp. on the legs; (also) a similar condition caused by other microorganisms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [noun] > sore
sorec1000
cweise?c1225
sorancec1440
shoyn1527
uncome1542
sorance1592
rawness1607
button farcy1673
fleck1695
raw1825
cold sore1842
bed-sore1861
fox1862
pressure sore1889
Queensland sore1892
salt sore1908
salt-burn1917
pressure point1929
1673 R. Almond Eng. Horsman 335 There is besides this Water-farcy a Button-farcy, and the signs to distinguish it from any other sort are bunches and knots.
1706 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 5) v. 97 Commonly divided into these Kinds; the Button or Knotted Farcy, the Running Farcy, the Water Farcy, and the Pocky Farcy.
1814 T. Peall Observ. Dis. Horse 112 The Farcy may be properly enough divided, into two distinct forms of disease, namely that in which it affects the lymphatic glands of the skin, (usually called by the Farriers bud or button Farcy), [etc.].
1906 E. Mayhew Illustr. Horse Doctor x. 284 The ‘button farcy’..leaves a deeper and a more painful ulcer.
1962 Farmer's Guide (Jamaica Agric. Soc.) xlviii. 683 Water farcy usually forms a bigger sore with more damage to the deeper tissues, more pain and tenderness than the button farcy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > button > fastener
button fastener1858
button key1863
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > parts of footwear > [noun] > protective studs or plates > fastenings > button > clasp for
button fastener1858
1858 Gen. & Commerc. Directory Birmingham (W. H. Dix & Co.) 125/1 Cast iron hardeners, and manufacturers of button shanks, hooks and eyes, button fasteners.
1866 A. D. Whitney Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life x, in Our Young People Oct. 605 She had hooks and eyes, and button-fasteners.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 149/2 Button Fastener, a clasp which hooks over the eye of a shoe button and is then clinched to the shoe.
button-fish n. now historical and rare a sea urchin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > subphylum Eleutherozoa > class Echinoidea > member of (sea-urchin)
echinusc1374
urchin fish1566
ruffe1591
sea-hedgehog1598
urchin1601
sea urchin1605
sea-bear1611
sea-chestnut1613
sea-thistle1661
sea-apple1666
sea-egg1666
button-fish1668
sea-button1668
urchin-worm1668
whore's egg1674
sea-shilling1713
echinite1750
echinid1835
pancake1843
echinoid1864
oursin1914
kina1960
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Alphabet. Dict. in Ess. Real Char. sig. Sv Button-fish. Mermaids head.
1740 S. Humphreys tr. N. A. Pluche Spectacle de la Nature (ed. 3) II. xxii. 148 Sea-Urchins or Button-Fishes.
1972 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 120 205/2 The animal..was sometimes called a sea hedgehog, sometimes an egg urchin, or a sea egg, or an egg fish, a button-fish, a needle shell,..and, from time to time, a whore's egg.
button gall n. (more fully silk button gall) a type of gall found on the undersides of oak leaves, occurring as a thickened disc which is covered with golden-brown hairs and has a depression in the centre, caused by the gall wasp Neuroterus numismalis.
ΚΠ
1843 Gardeners' Chron. 28 Jan. 52/1 A casual observer might mistake the brown globose Button-galls for the eggs of a large moth.
1882 N. E. Brown in G. W. Johnson Gardener's Dict. (new ed.) Suppl. 968/1 The Silk-button gall..forms a small disc, depressed in the centre, of a pale brown colour, clothed with silky hairs.
1935 Scotsman 19 Oct. 12/7 On the leaves also may be found the numerous and usually pretty galls such as the spangle, currant, and button galls.
2015 @PMacdonaldPhoto 30 Mar. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Silk-button gall of the Cynipid wasp Neuroterus numismalis on oak leaf.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > ornamental textiles > ornamental trimmings > [noun] > tassel > specific
tasselet1577
button hanger1777
1777 Bill of Sale 14 June in Carriage Jrnl. (1964) 2 82 The fore and hind Falls drawn up in Festoons and green Silk Footmans holders, the Tassell ornamented with white Silk Button hangers.
1793 London Packet 16 Jan. A Coach fit for travelling..; body-lining rich fancy striped silk cloth, trimmed with broad crest silk lace, variegated with a profusion of tassels and button hangers.
1817 Morning Post 22 Apr. One of the handsomest town-built Carriages is to be launched..with..a full trimmed crimson hammercloth, with rows of fringes, yellow lace, and silk button hangers.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > veterinary medicine and surgery > [noun] > veterinary equipment > other specific equipment
button iron1566
stopping pan1566
probang1657
searcher1834
flea collar1953
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. lii. f. 34 in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe With a button yron of an ynche about, burne at eche ende a hole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > button > fastener
button fastener1858
button key1863
1863 H. St. John U.S. Patent 40,714 1/2 A button-key, one leg of which is straight, the other curved..so that both legs may be inserted into the eye of a button.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 417/1 Button Key or Fastener, a spring loop..to..keep the button in place.
button lac n. lac in the form of round, flattened discs, produced by pouring melted sticklac, seedlac, or shellac into moulds.
ΚΠ
1844 Pharmaceut. Jrnl. & Trans. Dec. 273 Fine orange Lac—Ruby button Lac—Orange Lac (block).
1883 Cassell's Family Mag. Oct. 686/2 Lac is exported almost exclusively in the manufactured state as dye, shell-lac, and button-lac.
2011 Indian Express (Nexis) 14 July Lac is harvested as sticklac, which is then processed to produce commercial grades called shellac, button lac, seedlac, bleached lac and lac dye.
button lift n. Skiing a type of ski lift in which a series of discs are connected to an overhead running cable by poles, allowing a skier to position a disc between his or her legs for support while being towed up the slope; cf. Poma n.2
ΚΠ
1972 E. Brathwaite Compan. Guide South Island N.Z. iii. 154 The field itself has a fine chairlift and a Pommer button lift.
1986 M. Heckelman Hamlyn Guide Skiing i. 55 A Poma lift (sometimes called a button lift, a disk-pull lift, or a drag lift).
2016 London Evening Standard (Nexis) 31 Oct. As with most youngsters she picked it up quickly, and by the end of the week was hitching rides on the button lift and bombing down the bunny run.
button man n. (a) a man who manufactures or deals in buttons (now rare); (b) slang (originally and chiefly U.S.) a person who works as a killer or enforcer for or as a member of a Mafia family (cf. sense 19).
ΚΠ
1724 Brit. Jrnl. 15 Feb. 3/1 Two persons.., the first a Button-Man near St. Clements, and formerly a great Dealer that Way.
1879 R. J. Burdette Hawk-eyes 166 The First Button Man. Samuel Williston, the first manufacturer of buttons in the United States, is seventy-three years old, and worth six million dollars.
1963 Ann. Rep. Attorney-Gen. U.S. (U.S. Govt. Printing Office) 350 Each captain heads a ‘regime’ which consists of any number of ‘soldiers’, also referred to as ‘button men’ and ‘good fellows’.
1971 Just Buttons Nov. 359 A few years ago, a button man told me, 80 per cent of men's shirt buttons were pearl, now all but 40 per cent are plastic.
1990 R. Bork Tempting of Amer. 99 Mafiosi confer with their button men in private.
2016 N.Y. Post (Nexis) 5 Aug. 5 A crew with 10 Michaels and a dozen Anthonys is gonna need nicknames if the chief wants to tell the button men from the capos.
button mashing n. colloquial (originally U.S.) the action or an act of hitting buttons on a computer keyboard, game controller, etc., rapidly, repetitively, or randomly; cf. button bashing n.Frequently used depreciatively, with implications of mindlessness or panic.
ΚΠ
1981 Time 29 June 21/2 There comes a time in any Administration—if it is going to succeed—when all the lever-pulling and the button-mashing..must produce a feeling of real movement and direction.
1990 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. f10/3 In the first three years of Nintendo, this game would have gotten lost... All the kids wanted was shoot-'em-ups and button-mashing.
2003 Times 12 July (Games section) 27/3 The fight mechanics are woeful and bouts degenerate quickly into frenzied button-mashing.
2012 G. S. Elias et al. Characteristics of Games vi. 198 When first transitioning from simple button mashing to deliberately trying to perform combos, there is a temporary decrease in performance.
ΚΠ
1786 Whitehall Evening-post 31 Jan.–2 Feb. The shop of Mr. Phipson..was broke into, and robbed of 300 weight of button metal, a cake of silver, and other articles.
1881 A. Watt Mech. Industries Explained 90 Button brass..of the Birmingham manufacture, is composed of 8 parts of brass and 5 parts of zinc, while their cheaper button metal is composed of copper, tin, zinc, and lead.
1884 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts 3rd ser. 14 Cu+4Zn White button metal.
1921 A. A. Hopkins Sci. Amer. Handy Bk. Facts & Formulae 170 (table) White button metal.
button mould n. a small disc which is covered with fabric, thread, etc., to make a button; cf. mould n.3 12b.Button moulds were originally made of bone, horn, wood, or pasteboard, but are now more usually made of metal, acrylic, or fibreboard.In quot. 1605 as a term of abuse.
ΚΠ
1605 Hist. Tryall Cheualry sig. C2v Bowyer a Captayn? a Capon, a button mould, a lame haberdine, a red beard Sprat, a Yellow hammer, a bow case, a very Iackdaw with his toung slit.
1639 J. Taylor Divers Crabtree Lect. 50 Your thimble, your button-moulds, and your bodkin.
1773 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 30 Jan. One hundred and fifty grose of button moulds; silk worsted, and thread hose.
1918 N.Y. Times 20 Jan. iv. 2/6 A small-sized bit of silk..was stretched over a wooden button mold.
2005 C. Jefferys Learn to Sew (2008) 56/2 Some types of covered buttons..have little metal hooks inside the rim of the button mould.
button mushroom n. (the unopened cap of) a young mushroom, esp. of the commonly cultivated species Agaricus bisporus; = sense 6d.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > mushrooms or edible fungi > mushroom > types of
champignon1578
meadow mushroom1597
goat's beard1640
button mushroom1708
flap1744
flab?18..
whitecap1801
nutmeg-boletus1813
blewits1830
mitre mushroom1854
St. George's mushroom1854
springer1860
cheese-room1865
horse mushroom1866
oyster mushroom1875
redmilk1882
beef-steak fungus1886
blusher1887
shaggy cap1894
shaggy mane1895
maitake1905
shiitake1925
oysterc1950
miller1954
porcino1954
saffron milk cap1954
old man of the woods1972
portobello1985
1708 H. Howard England's Newest Way Cookery (ed. 2) 90 Take the Button-Mushrooms, wipe them clean with a piece of Flannel.
1865 Cornhill Mag. Nov. 627 Produced like button-mushrooms in a hot-bed.
1948 R. Godden Candle for St. Jude iv. 130 Her supper..was one of Zanny's ragouts with a chicken, a few button mushrooms, and very small carrots.
2013 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 Apr. 65/1 Agaricus bisporus, the common mushrooms known at various points of their growth as white or button mushrooms.
ΚΠ
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. xxix. f. 11v in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe They may vse the Turkye shoe, and button nayles..and that shal kepe their horses from slyding.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 89/2 Button Nails, with round heads.
1754 J. Aheron Gen.Treat. Archit. Builder's Dict. Button-Nails, are a Sort of Nails with round Heads, and but short Shanks, tinned and lackered.
1838 Daily Commerc. Bull. (St. Louis, Missouri) 23 June (advt.) 100 kegs button nails,..20 kegs finishing nails..for sale at low prices.
1904 P. N. Hasluck Upholstery viii. 91 The back-rest can be tufted with button nails.
button nose n. a small, rounded nose, resembling a button, typically considered to be pleasing or attractive in appearance.
ΚΠ
1714 Ladies Tales 185 She..had a large Face, small button Nose, little grey Eyes.
1860 G. Meredith Evan Harrington xxxi, in Once a Week 28 July 115/2 Could design lodge in that empty-looking head with its crisp curls, button nose, and diminishing simper?
1937 G. Albee Young Robert ix. 101 Some..had button noses, high cheek bones, round faces and skin that might have been tallow.
2017 Wales on Sunday (Nexis) 19 Mar. 16 With her golden hair, blue eyes and cute button nose—she really was the most gorgeous baby I'd ever seen.
button-nosed adj. having a button nose.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > nose > [adjective] > types of nose > having
cammed?c1350
camoised1393
nosed?1440
hook-nosed1519
snat-nosed1519
flat-nosed1530
bottle-nosed1566
chamoy-nosed1598
saddle-nosed1598
swine-snouted1600
camois-nosed1601
round-nosed1611
nosy1620
flat-nose1636
simous1656
sharp-nosed1675
tutty-nosed1681
Roman-nosed1688
snut-nosed1706
snub-nosed1725
camois1745
blunt-nosed1772
pug-nosed1788
snipy1825
button-nosed1830
nip-nosed1831
leptorrhinian1878
leptorrhine1880
snub1883
knob-nosed1886
long-nose1896
Tartar-nosed1897
Ally Sloper1901
beaky-nosed1923
1830 Philadelphia Album & Ladies Lit. Gaz. 9 Jan. 15/4 A fat beadle,—button nosed, great-coated and umbrella'd.
1935 Observer 17 Mar. 21/2 He is a button-nosed cherubic individual.
2000 J. Ray Julie & Romeo 138 She appeared to be a distant cousin of..Doris Day, all button-nosed and bright-eyed.
ΚΠ
1852 New Engl. Farmer July 305/2 The peculiarity in this species is the singular cartilaginous appendages to the nose, which start out like radii from the nostrils as a centre, and present a star-like appearance. Hence it is called radiated mole, star-nosed mole, button-nosed mole, &c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical instruments > [adjective] > pointed
punctual?1541
button-pointed1659
lancet-pointed1888
1659 City of Londons New Letany (single sheet) Commanders who never drew sword but in Schools, Which were button-pointed to favour such fools.
1764 S. Mihles Elements Surg. (ed. 2) 261 Introducing..a blunt or button-pointed Knife,..[he] makes an Incision.
1834 London Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 6 209/2 A button-pointed probe was then introduced into the opening.
1888 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 17 June 18/3 Mr. Zander..proceeded to lunge the button-pointed foil right into..his staggered antagonist.
1900 J. A. W. Dollar tr. P. J. Cadiot Stud. Clin. Vet. Med. & Surg. i. xii. 75 The exostosis [is] cut into at several points, using a button-pointed bistoury with a convex cutting edge.
button press n. (a) a press for making buttons; (b) the action or an act of pushing a button.
ΚΠ
1824 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 8 221 The coining press, the button press, and stamping presses in general are prohibited [for export].
1936 E. J. Pratt in Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Mar. 247/1 Science responded to a button press.
1991 New Scientist 23 Feb. 49/2 A simple rule is that the number of button presses to do something should be proportional to the logarithm of the probability that you want to do it.
2010 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 28 Jan. (Life! section) If you get to meet her at the exhibition, she will make you a button on the spot with an old button press that has been in her family for 40 years.
2014 Irish Times 20 Dec. (Mag.) 35/4 Useful functions include a QuikCapture mode where you can switch on and start recording with a single button press.
buttonquail n. any of the small quail-like birds constituting the family Turnicidae, found in warm grassland areas of the Old World, and having only three toes; also called hemipode.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > member of family Turnicidae > genus Turnix (button-quail)
Turnix1819
quail1848
buttonquail1854
hemipod1862
bush-quail1893
1854 J. J. Pemberton Geogr. & Statist. Rep. District of Maldah 5 Wild Birds.—Wild goose.., jay, quail, button quail, golden plover.
1893 A. Newton Dict. Birds Hemipode, a recognized English rendering of Temminck's generic name Hemipodius..for a small group of birds some of which Anglo-Indians often call ‘Bustard-Quails’ or ‘Button-Quails’.
1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxxii. 276 Button quail or riet kwartel (Turnicidæ).—Three species of Hemipodes, or button quail, exist in South Africa.
2009 Daily Tel. 18 Feb. 14/4 Hunters snared the Worcester's buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri) in the Caraballo mountains last month.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > stop > reed-stop > specific
regal1555
curtal1582
trumpet1659
cremona1660
cromorne1694
hautboyc1700
horn1722
serpent1730
dulcian1773
zinke1773
trumpet stop1795
musette1825
fagotto1832
oboe1834
trombone1837
physharmonica1838
cornopean1840
ophicleide1842
posaune1843
button regal1852
shawm1852
vox angelica1852
busaun1855
bombardon1856
tuba1858
bombard1876
clarinet1876
rackett1876
tenoroon1876
clarionet1880
krummhorn1880
1852 tr. J. J. Seidel Organ & its Constr. 84 The obsolete registers; bear's pipe, and Apple, or button-regal [Ger. Knopfregal], were stopped reed-registers.
1881 C. A. Edwards Organs (new ed.) xvi. 129 An Apple or Button Regal, a reed stop now no longer used, the pipes of which were very short.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the body > [noun] > other forms of decorating the body > ornamental scar
button-scar1897
1897 A. J. Butler tr. F. Ratzel Hist. Mankind II. 394 In the so-called ‘button-scars’, a row of button-shaped warty scars runs from the edge of the forehead to the tip of the nose; this is found both on the Congo and on the Zambesi.
button seal n. any of various of seals (seal n.2) resembling a button, typically shaped like a small flat disc; spec. (a) a seal of wax, gold, etc., used to secure or authenticate a document, letter, etc. (obsolete); (b) an engraved seal (seal n.2 3), made of stone, ivory, bone, etc., used in various ancient cultures, sometimes having a perforated stem on the back and perhaps worn as a pendant or sewn on to clothing.
ΚΠ
1798 R. O'Brien Let. 12 Oct. in D. W. Knox Naval Docs. U.S. Wars with Barbary Powers (1939) I. 259 The Register being indorsed & haveing allso a Bill of Sale of Said Brig. with a button Seal.
1865 E. F. Carlén Guardian III. xxviii. 285 Doubtless, for the sake of secrecy, Malvina had adopted this extraordinary scrawl..and the next second he felt tempted to kiss the hateful, coarse button-seal... The letter was opened, and three papers slipped out.
1894 A. J. Evans in Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 14 336 The top..probably once perforated, is not only analogous in form, but bears a simple geometrical design almost identical with that on an early steatite ‘button-seal’ from Knôsos.
1921 Virginia Law Rev. 8 48 The button seal underwent several changes but it had the objection that a special tool or press was required to affix it.
1995 in P. Seaton Chalcolithic Cult & Risk Managem. at Teleilat Ghassul (2008) i. 74/2 Gilead notes from Grar a phyllite/polished greenstone pierced ‘looped conoid button seal’ with a spiral design.
2008 Liverpool Daily Echo (Nexis) 2 Aug. 29 A water guard's button seal was used to stamp red wax seals on taxed goods after inspection.
button-shaped adj. resembling a button in shape; small and round, disc-shaped.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [adjective] > other shapes
plummet-like1605
semilunar1681
cordated1698
cordate1760
obcordate1775
club-shaped1776
flabelliform1777
obovate1785
button-shaped1791
clavate1803
placentiform?a1808
obovoid1819
valviform1819
constricted1826
vulviform1829
mitrate1836
bipenniform1842
sandaliform1848
scopiform1852
obclavate1856
obcordiform1857
oboval1857
utriform1860
broadsword-shaped1870
placentoid1885
hypsiloid1886
1791 J. Bolton App. to Hist. Fungusses Halifax 176 Button-shaped Helvella.
1836 W. E. Shuckard tr. H. Burmeister Man. Entomol. 203 A bladder..entirely covered with round, button-shaped blisters.
1909 Smart Set Sept. 133/2 His face was an almost perfect circle, centered by a short, button-shaped nose.
1976 Times 15 Mar. 18/2 The digital watch..powered by a small, button-shaped battery.
2002 Guardian 16 Feb. 83/2 Clusters of yellow button-shaped flowers.
button shell n. (a) a top shell (family Trochidae), typically having a rounded glossy shell often bearing a colourful pattern, esp. Umbonium vestiarium of the Indo-Pacific region; (b) any of various molluscs whose shells are or have been used to make buttons.
ΚΠ
1706 J. Petiver Classical Catal. 84 Italian Small Button Shell.
1847 Synopsis Contents Brit. Mus. (ed. 52) 38 The button shell (Rotella lineolata).
1948 Far Eastern Surv. 17 277/2 Various kinds of edible mollusca offer extensive possibilities, as does button-shell fishery.
1994 Hist. Archaeol. 28 9/2 Such an ideal button shell was rarely found but some species were fairly consistently usable.
2006 B. F. Chhapgar Marine Life in India xxxv. 167 One of the daintiest shells is the Button shell or Rosary shell_Umbonium vestiarium.
button stick n. now historical and rare a device used in polishing metal buttons on a military uniform, etc., that holds the buttons steady and protects the surrounding fabric from polish, consisting of a small, oblong wooden or more usually brass plate with openings into which a button or buttons are inserted; cf. button brass n. (b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > [noun] > shield used in button-polishing
button stick1807
button brass1849
1807 Coll. Orders, Regulations & Instr. for Army viii. 455 Button stick and hook.
1853 Morning Chron. 6 Dec. 6/1 A knapsack..with the ridiculous paraphernalia for a campaign, of button-sticks, brushes, &c.
1887 Descr. & Rules Managem. Springfield Rifle, Carbine & Army Revolvers 37 One wire scratch brush..; four wooden button sticks, four button brushes.
1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 150 Button sticks..were used for cleaning uniform buttons.
ΚΠ
1754 L. Natter Treat. Anc. Method engraving Precious Stones ii. 5 The Button-Tool, or Bouterolle, is used to make the Point at the Extremity of the Nose.
1835 Sheffield Independent 15 Aug. (advt.) The effects comprise..quantity of Button Tools, Vices, Shears.
1852 Appleton's Dict. Machines I. 167 A button-tool; it is used for boring and cutting out..the little leather disks or buttons, which serve as nuts for the screwed wires in the mechanism connected with the keys of the organ and pianoforte.
1869 Sci. Amer. 1 Jan. 9/2 We show..one [hand tool for shaping metal] not so frequently employed as its merits deserve. It is called the ‘button tool’, from the form of the head or cutting portion.
button top n. the top part of a button, as distinguished from the shank or back; frequently (and in earliest use) as the type of something of little or no value or importance, chiefly in negative constructions, as not to care a button top, not to be worth a button top, etc.; cf. sense 1b.
ΚΠ
1771 A. Skinn Old Maid II. xliv. 128 I doant cair a button-top far that.
1787 Gen. Mag. Nov. 292 He was..whipped for swallowing a button-top.
1856 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 8 Nov. Suppl. 9/6 Instead of contributing money.., they would give button tops, bad coins, pieces of round tin, &c.
1886 Real Cause of Depression in Cotton Trade 32 Men..whose guarantee is not worth ‘a button top’.
1926 Clearfield (Iowa) Enterprise 30 Sept. They..pine after a fool who doesn't care a button top for 'em.
2009 J. Myers-Cho Strands ii. 70/2 Place a button back over the fabric and button top.
button tuft n. Upholstery a (decorative) button or stud covering the stitching at the centre of a depression on upholstery which has been tufted (see tuft v. 1b); (also) each of the depressions in upholstery which has been tufted.
ΚΠ
1834 J. S. Cropton London Upholsterer's Compan. i. 12 If..there are two holes for a button tuft,..the height of the shank will show above the cover.
1888 Hub Dec. 667/1 The tufts in the body linings were the Bridgeport worsted button tufts, dark brown.
1947 N.Y. Times 6 Apr. 40/3 (advt.) Extra-heavy 8-oz. ticking with its deep button tufts.
1971 Chicago Daily Defender 26 Jan. 17/1 To..determine whether your present mattress is up to snuff..: Look for..loose or missing button tufts, and any rips or tears.
2016 T. O'Malley & D. G. Purdy We were Kings xviii. 112 Black leather chairs, the backs sectioned with shallow button tufts and detailed along the borders with silver nails.
button turn n. rare a fastening device incorporating a short bar pivoting around its centre; = turn-button n. at turn- comb. form .
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > watch > [noun] > parts of
barrel1591
motion1605
bezel1616
fusee1622
string1638
crown wheel1646
out-case1651
watch-box1656
nuck1664
watchwork1667
balance-wheel1669
box1675
dial wheel1675
counter-potence1678
pendulum-balance1680
watch-case1681
pillar1684
contrate teeth1696
pinion of report1696
watch-hook1698
bob-balance1701
half-cock1701
potence1704
verge1704
pad1705
movable1709
jewel1711
pendant1721
crystal1722
watch-key1723
pendulum spring1728
lock spring1741
watch-glass1742
watch-spring1761
all-or-nothing piece1764
watch hand1764
cylinder1765
cannon?1780
cannon1802
stackfreed1819
pillar plate1821
little hand1829
hair-spring1830
lunette1832
all-or-nothing1843
locking1851
slag1857
staff1860
case spring1866
stem1866
balance-cock1874
watch-dial1875
balance-spring1881
balance-staff1881
Breguet spring1881
overcoil1881
surprise-piece1881
brass edge1884
button turn1884
fourth wheel1884
fusee-sink1884
pair-case1884
silver bar1884
silver piece1884
slang1884
top plate1884
karrusel1893
watch-face1893
watch bracelet1896
bar-movement1903
jewel pivot1907
jewel bearing1954
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 37 Button Turn, a brass block pivotted in the index arm and covering the curb-pin.
1989 Indian Trade Jrnl. 327 A161 (heading) Brass button turn.
button worm n. Angling a kind of small earthworm used as bait.Not readily identifiable; perhaps most often a variety of the redworm Lumbricus rubellus or of the similar L. castaneus.
ΚΠ
1847 T. T. Stoddart Angler's Compan. 111 The Black-Head, or Button-Worm..whose nature it is..to coil and knot itself up in the form of a ball or old-fashioned button.
1900 Catal. Hardy's Angling Specialities 25 The worms best for trout fishing are the marsh-worm, red-worm, button-worm, and the brandling.
2004 News of World (Nexis) 11 Apr. Brandling and button worms tend to be the favoured bait.
b. In the names of plants having rounded or globular flowers, flower heads, fruits, etc.
buttonball n. U.S. the buttonwood, Platanus occidentalis, the seeds of which occur in globular clusters (more fully buttonball tree).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > plane-trees > [noun]
platanusOE
planea1382
platana1382
plane treea1425
platan treea1425
plantain1535
plane1562
dwarf plane tree1578
chenar1638
buttonwood1670
platanus tree1670
Norway maple1731
water beech1735
American plane1781
sycamore1814
buttonball1818
London plane1860
sycamore-tree1872
1818 Panoplist June 277 The principal trees, which I have observed, are beach,..sycamore (called button-ball at the north,) and different kinds of oak.
1914 Bull. N.Y. State Coll. Forestry No. 2 8 Park Ave. to Lexington Ave. there are four Buttonball trees in excellent condition.
2001 Day (New London, Connecticut) 13 May a1/1 Buttonwood or buttonball is the common name of a native species of sycamore tree that grows in northeastern river valleys.
button-bur n. †(a) common burdock, Arctium minus (obsolete rare); (b) (North American) cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > [noun] > bur-weed
clot-bur1548
ditch-bur1548
louse-burr1578
button-bur1634
bur-weed1783
clotweed1804
sea-burdock1845
Bathurst burr1855
Noogoora burr1883
1634 T. Johnson Mercurius Bot. 20 Arctium montanum, Button Burre.
1879 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. I. i. 758/3 Button-bur, A plant—Xanthium Strumarium.
1999 F. Royer & R. Dickinson Weeds Canada & Northern U.S. 64 Broad-leaved cocklebur, clotbur, sheep-bur, ditch-bur, button-bur, noogoora bur.
buttonbush n. North American a wetland shrub or small tree native to eastern North America, Cephalanthus occidentalis (family Rubiaceae), which has globular heads of whitish flowers.Also called button tree, snowball.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > North-American
wild tea1728
bastard indigo1730
mountain heath1731
groundsel-tree1736
amorpha1751
buttonbush1754
moosewood1778
pipestem wood1791
modesty1809
sand myrtle1814
wicopy1823
lead-plant1833
false indigo1841
sleek-leaf1845
arrow weed1848
rabbit bush1852
ribbonwood1860
rabbit brush1877
sea myrtle1883
pencil tree1884
tar-bush1884
ocean spray1906
1754 J. Eliot Contin. Ess. Field-husbandry in New-Eng.: Fifth Pt. 41 There was not the same Success attending the cutting these Button Bushes as the other sorts.
1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms ix. 413 The Button-bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) has its name from the resemblance of its globular catkins of flowers to round buttons.
1946 Auk 63 442 A marsh of cattail and bulrushes with a few scattered buttonbushes.
2017 Thorold Niagara (Ont.) News (Nexis) 23 Feb. a6 Sweet gum, sycamore and buttonbush provide seed for finches.
buttonflower n. any of various herbaceous plants having flowers or flower heads which are rounded or globular; (also) a flower or flower head of this kind.rock button-flower: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1664 F. Gouldman Copious Dict. i. at Herb Batchelors button, or button flower, Polyanthemon.
?1711 J. Petiver Gazophylacii VII.–VIII. Table 69 Willow-leaved Luzone Button Flower... Grows about a Yard and an half high;..come whitish Flowers out of round green Heads.
1732 tr. J. Nieuhof in Coll. Voy. & Trav. (new ed.) II. 286/1 The flower called by the Malayans, Borago Soesan, by the Javanese, Bunbang Ungo, and Licuhoa by the Chinese; the Portuguese call Fule de Botano, i.e. the Button Flower, from its resemblance to a button.
1809 J. Donn Hortus Cantabrigiensis (ed. 5) 103 Gomphia, Button-flower.
1860 Morning Chron. 4 July 5/2 In their hands they carried bouquets of that well known little yellow button-flower called the Immortelle.
1921 Bull. Mississippi State Geol. Surv. No. 17 258 Diodia teres... Purple Button Flower.
1979 Country Life 8 Mar. 629/1 Its grey-green leaves and cream button flowers are admirable together.
2005 M. Harrison Southern Gardening 81 Buttonflower is effective as a ground cover, edging, or cascading down a wall or planter.
buttongrass n. chiefly Australian any of several grasses or grass-like plants which have globular flower heads; spec. Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus (family Cyperaceae), a perennial, tussock-forming sedge which is native to Australia and Tasmania.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > other aquatic grasses
reed-grass1597
marram1640
reed meadow grass1772
eel-grass1790
buttongrass1814
cutting grass1831
sea hard-grass1843
sea sand-reed1856
tape-grass1857
spinifex1877
surf-grass1923
1814 Catal. Trees, Shrubs, & Herbaceous Plants (Bartram's Bot. Garden) (new ed.) 36 Eriocaulon decangulare. Button grass.
1860 Hobart Town (Austral.) Daily Mercury 13 Apr. The wiry and useless ‘gymnoschenus,’ (the button grass of our shepherds,) is still plentiful in this valley.
1933 Trans. & Proc. Royal Soc. S. Austral. 57 126 The well-known ‘button-grass’ (Dactyloctenium aegyptium) characteristic of the high glacial plains of the western part of the Island.
1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 6 Button-grass plains where no feed grows that will sustain a horse.
2003 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 1 Feb. (Travel section) 1 The landscape consists of fields of billowing buttongrass and panoramic views of wild mountain scenery.
button mangrove n.
Brit. /ˌbʌtn ˈmaŋɡrəʊv/
, /ˌbʌtn ˈmaŋɡrəʊv/U.S. /ˌbətn ˈmæŋɡroʊv/
, /ˌbətn ˈmæŋɡroʊv/West African English /ˌbɔtɔn ˈmaŋɡrov/
a mangrove shrub native to tropical America and west Africa, Conocarpus erectus (family Combretaceae), which has clusters of reddish-brown aggregate fruit.Also called button tree, buttonwood./ˌbɔtɔn ˈmaŋɡrov/ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > mangroves
mangle1613
mangrove1613
mangrove treec1625
button tree1698
Rhizophora1753
yam1753
button mangrove1864
1864 R. de Grosourdy Médico Botánico Criollo, Pt. 1 I. App. 1 p. 399 Mangle botón, Prco.; mangle botoncillo.—Button mangrove.—Mangle roche, Trd.—Conocarpus erecta.
1954 Fishery Bull. 55 v. 195/1 Conocarpus erecta L., called the buttonwood or button mangrove because of its small, button-like or alder-like clusters of flowers and fruit.
2008 S. Keeling Puerto Rico: Rough Guide 169 Take the short boardwalk..through a dense forest of red, black, white, and button mangroves.
button tree n. (a) the button mangrove, Conocarpus erectus; (b) (chiefly U.S.) the buttonball, Platanus occidentalis; (c) (chiefly U.S.) the buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > mangroves
mangle1613
mangrove1613
mangrove treec1625
button tree1698
Rhizophora1753
yam1753
button mangrove1864
1698 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 36 Jamaica Button-Tree.
1725 H. Sloane Voy. Islands II. 18 Button Tree. This tree..grows near the sea-side..among the mangroves.
1739 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. II. Addenda sig. Rrrr2 Platanus Americanus... The Button-tree.
1751 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 561/2 Cephalanthus, or Button tree.
1833 Gardener's Mag. 9 118 Dr. Mease, in speaking of immense American button trees, has identified them with the genus Platanus.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 184/1 Button-tree, the common name of Conocarpus.
1898 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S. III. 216 Cephalanthus occidentalis L. Button-bush. Button-tree. Honey-balls. Globe-flower.
1931 W. A. Dayton Important Western Browse Plants (U.S. Dept. Agric. Misc. Publ. No. 101) 145 Buttonbush.., known by a great number of local names, including button tree,..is one of the most widely distributed plants of North America.
1976 Backpacker Dec. 70/2 You can pass through..shoreline mangrove swamps with sea grapes, red mangroves and button trees.
2013 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 22 Jan. a11 Plane trees are also called the button tree or buttonwood tree in some parts of North America.
buttonweed n. (a) (North American) any of several herbaceous plants of (or formerly included in) the related genera Spermacoce and Diodia (family Rubiaceae), which are native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas and frequently regarded as noxious weeds, having small white or pinkish-purple flowers with four lobes and elliptical, pointed leaves (also with distinguishing word); (b) common knapweed, Centaurea nigra (rare); (c) (North American) velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > [noun] > knapweed
ironhardOE
matfellon?a1300
hardhawa1400
bull-weeda1450
club-weeda1500
knapweed1530
crop-weed1597
hardhead1610
horse-knop1691
horse-knob1724
buttonweed1760
knobweed1785
ironweed1808
knotweed1827
ironhead1863
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Table i. 265 Spermacoce. Button Weed.
1807 ‘A. McDonald’ Compl. Dict. Pract. Gardening at Spermacoce The species cultivated are: 1. S. tenuior, Slender Button-weed; 2. S. verticillata, Whorl-flowered Button-weed.
1872 Rep. Commissioner Agric. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 471 Indian mallow, (Abutilon Avacennæ), better known among the farmers of the Western States as ‘stamp weed’, ‘velvet leaf’, ‘butter print’, ‘button weed’ &c.
1873 W. B. Hemsley Handbk. Hardy Trees i. 265 C[entaurea] nigra, Knapweed or Buttonweed, is a familiar native example.
1925 Amer. Botanist Apr. 56 Our only species of Spermococe..is sometimes called ‘smooth button-weed’ to distinguish it from species of Diodia which are by inference, as well as in fact, ‘rough button-weeds’... The word ‘buttonweed’..refers to the small rounded clusters of flowers or fruits.
1949 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 10 July 45 (caption) Button weeds are growing from five to six feet high in the corn field.
2006 N. Mac Coitir Irish Wild Plants 272 Common Knapweed... Alternative Names: Bachelor's Buttons,..Black Knapweed, Buttonweed (Kerry).
2014 @ThisBarbara 20 June in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) All I really want to do today is pull the Virginia buttonweed out of my front lawn.
buttonwood n. (a) (chiefly U.S.) the buttonball, Platanus occidentalis (more fully buttonwood tree); (b) (more fully buttonwood mangrove) the button mangrove, Conocarpus erectus; (c) (chiefly U.S.) the buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > plane-trees > [noun]
platanusOE
planea1382
platana1382
plane treea1425
platan treea1425
plantain1535
plane1562
dwarf plane tree1578
chenar1638
buttonwood1670
platanus tree1670
Norway maple1731
water beech1735
American plane1781
sycamore1814
buttonball1818
London plane1860
sycamore-tree1872
1670 W. Dyer To Kings most Excellent Majesty 2 The Countrey every where well furnished with..Hills, and fruitful valleys: where growes..Willow, Buttonwood, Alder, Poplar and Sassafras.
1737 Abridgem. Acts Assembly Bermuda sig. B2v/1 in Acts Assembly Bermuda An Act to prevent the Destruction of Button Wood.
1752 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (ed. 6) at Cephalanthus Cephalanthus, Button-wood.
1766 J. Adams Diary 4 May (1961) I. 312 I saw..a likely young Button Wood Tree, lately planted, on the Triangle made by the Three Roads.
1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants ii. 122 The sycamore is the button wood of New England.
1877 Amer. Jrnl. Pharmacy 49 40 Tincture and fluid extract of Buttonwood (Cephalanthus occidentalis).
1888 Proc. Entomol. Soc. Washington 1 93 The Mangrove belt which encircles the island is composed chiefly of three species of tree-like shrubs, the Black Mangrove (Avizennia nitida), the White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and the Buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta).
1906 Harper's Mag. Mar. 560 She watched him..come back,..walking very slowly under the mottled branches of the buttonwoods.
1974 Draft Environmental Statem. Surry Power Station Units 3 & 4 (typescript, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) ii. 20 The transition zone between marsh and woodland is dominated by wax myrtle..and buttonwood.
1998 Federal News Service (Nexis) 19 May If the owner of Pumpkin Key wishes to cut down buttonwood mangroves to make room for houses, he is free to do so.
2012 Wall St. Jrnl. 21 Dec. (Eastern ed.) a9 The New York Stock Exchange started under a buttonwood tree in lower Manhattan.
Derivatives
ˈbutton-like adj. resembling a button in size and shape; small and round.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [adjective] > circular > like a button
buttony1597
button-like1657
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden clxxxxvi. 308 The flowers are button-like.
1794 J. Bell Engravings 72 The Lower Head of the Ulna..is small, and button-like; for it is received into a hollow.
1844 Bentley's Misc. Jan. 533 Nothing can be more infantile than his entire appearance, especially his..little, button-like nose.
1874 C. W. Thomson in Good Words 747 Button-like heads of yellow flowers.
1904 G. Morgan Issue ii. xii. 121 There was a button-like wart in..one of his fat cheeks.
2006 S. Soto tr. A. Grandes Wind from East (2007) 38 A round face with..small, dark, button-like eyes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
buttonv.
/ˈbʌtn/, U.S. /ˈbətn/ I. To furnish with a button or buttons, and related senses.† 3.
1. † b. transitive. To cover (a person, the skin) with pustules, chancres, or similar. See button n. 7. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To decorate (something) with buttons, jewels, or similar ornaments. Chiefly in past participle with with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (transitive)] > other
fur13..
buttonc1380
lashc1440
pointa1470
set1530
tuft1535
vent1547
ruff1548
spangle1548
string1548
superbody1552
to pull out1553
quilt1555
flute1578
seam1590
seed1604
overtrim1622
ruffle1625
tag1627
furbelow1701
tuck1709
flounce1711
pipe1841
skirt1848
ruche1855
pouch1897
panel1901
stag1902
create1908
pin-fit1926
ease1932
pre-board1940
post-board1963
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 166 Gloues..þat with gold ibotened were.
c1440 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Thornton) l. 368 Hir belle was of plonket..Botonede with besantes, and bokellede fulle bene.
1480 Cronicles Eng. (Caxton) ccxxvi. sig. p6 Short clothes..on euery side slatered & botened.
1590 J. Hammon tr. B. Aneau Αλεκτορ xvii. 112 A rich Cassock of crimson veluet buttoned with gold.
c1600 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughman's Crede (Trin. Cambr. R.3.15) (1873) l. 296 A cote..queyntly y-botend.
1658 tr. J. Ussher Ann. World 742 A purple robe buttoned with precious stones.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 15. ¶4 A Furbelow of precious Stones, an Hat buttoned with a Diamond.
1795 S. J. Pratt Gleanings through Wales III. lxvii. 242 The waistcoat was buttoned with florins.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. viii. 20/1 Without vestments, till he buy or steal such, and..sew and button them.
1868 Sharpe's London Mag. Jan. 168/1 Evening toilet dress of mauve faye silk... Body plain, buttoned with amethysts.
1913 Irish Monthly 41 202 There she did be..in a white satin frock, an' the jacket of it buttoned with rubies.
1971 Burlington Mag. Dec. 696/2 They are dressed alike in close-fitting doublets..over which are black velvet gowns..the sleeves being slashed and buttoned with gold.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > erupt in spots, etc. [verb (transitive)] > raise pimples
pimple1604
button1605
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 345 Humour which..within Their bodies boyling, butt'neth [Fr. boutonne] all their skin.
1625 C. Burges Fire of Sanctuarie vii. 433 If a Physition should reade a Lecture in Physicke touching the nature and Symptomes of the Neopolitan Buttons..; would any man but hee that were buttoned with them take snuffe in the nose?
1797 T. White Descr. Dr. Monterau's Veg. Drops 6 The discontented visage of disease, a visage of actual fret-work, buttoned with carbuncles, pimples, blotches, ulcers, and every other cutaneous appearance.
1864 G. Wilkinson On Cure, Arrest & Isolation Small Pox i. 2 His handsome chiselled features..were almost undiscernable in the huge carneous head, bossed and buttoned all over with the rising eruption of confluent small-pox.
2. † a. intransitive. Of plants: to bud, to put forth buds. Of a fruit: to assume a globular shape. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > bud > [verb (intransitive)]
gemc1150
bud1398
buttona1500
embud1603
knot1611
about1725
gemmate1846
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > be fruit or reproductive product [verb (intransitive)] > form shape
button1790
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 243 (MED) The tren clothyn ham wyth lewis, botonyth and spourgyth.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Reboutonner, to bud; or button, againe.
1671 A. Woodhead tr. Life St. Teresa i. xiv. 88 These Trees begin to button, and bud out towards flouring.
1790 Coll. Voy. round World III. iv. 899 Some [fruit] just beginning to button.
b. intransitive. Of broccoli, cauliflower, etc.: to form a small, premature head.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > grow or vegetate [verb (intransitive)] > grow abnormally or unseasonably
spirt1584
boll1601
sprout1675
run1725
button1767
bolt1889
to set to seed1897
1767 J. Abercrombie Every Man his Own Gardener (ed. 2) 272 It [sc. colliflower seed] must not be sown sooner than that time, otherwise the plants will be apt to button (as it is called)..; which flowers never exceed the size of an ordinary button.
1852 Gardeners' Chron. 17 Apr. 245/3 My Cabbages is all ‘run’, half the Colliflowers ‘buttoned’, and the Brockalies gone blind.
1884 Field 12 July 67 Cauliflowers button at an early stage, and are useless.
1911 L. B. Judson Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts on Long Island (Bull. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exper. Station No. 292) 235 Many of them [sc. cauliflowers] were sure to ‘button’, or form tiny premature heads.
1961 News-Palladium (Benton Harbour, Mich.) 18 Aug. 11/1 10-week-old plants frequently button as they grow in the field.
2013 P. Dawling Sustainable Market Farming xxxii. 213 Stressed plants are liable to bolt or, in the case of broccoli, ‘button’ (produce tiny heads).
a. transitive. To fit the sharp tip of (a fencing foil, sword, etc.) with a button (button n. 2c) so as to render it safe for training exercises. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > fencing > fence [verb (transitive)] > actions
to traverse one's ground1577
lock1579
falsify1595
pass1595
button1615
touch1622
stringere1688
repost1691
quart1692
riposte1707
time1765
whip1861
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > fencing > fence [verb (transitive)] > fit foil with button
button1615
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 168 A sticke..buttoned at the end with leather, in manner of a foile.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Oxf. 335 To have fenced with rebated Rapiers and swords buttoned up.
1868 T. Griffiths Mod. Fencer 75 The foil is generally buttoned with gutta percha.
b. transitive. To touch (an opponent) with the button of a fencing foil (button n. 2c). Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1842 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 566/1 I should have buttoned them ten times for every twice they touched me.
II. To fasten with a button or buttons, and related senses.
4.
a. transitive. To fasten (a garment) with buttons; to secure or close by means of a button or buttons. Often with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > fasten
lace?c1225
gird1297
belta1400
buttona1425
garterc1440
lashc1440
pointa1470
trussa1475
lace1485
fasten1600
truss1610
bind1720
staylace1832
sandal1897
zip1929
to zip up1937
zipper1938
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 27v Fibulo, to botenen or lacen.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 46 Bothon clothys, botono, fibulo.
a1475 in J. O. Halliwell Early Eng. Misc. (1855) 7 (MED) I may unnethe buttyn my slewys, Soo myn armys waxin more.
1555 R. Eden tr. S. von Herberstein Rerum moscouiticarum commentarii in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 291v These the Christians vse to butten on the right syde: and the Tartars..butten them on the lefte syde.
?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Biiii A faire blacke coate of cloth withouten sleue, And buttoned the shoulder round about.
1659 Lady Alimony ii. vi. sig. Fi But take especial care You button on your night-cap.
1695 R. Blackmore Prince Arthur x. 286 Ella..button'd on his rich embroider'd Vest.
1701 London Gaz. No. 3701/4 A Beaver Hat buttoned up.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. ii. 12 I took care to button my great coat about me.
1827 T. Carlyle tr. J. A. Musæus in German Romance I. 74 He..buttoned up his scissor-pouch.
1867 J. T. Trowbridge Neighbours' Wives xxviii. 256 The agitated and remorseful John, having previously unbuttoned his coat, began to button it up again excitedly.
1921 B. Tarkington Alice Adams iii. 31 She went down the stairs, buttoning her gloves.
1956 J. Cheever Jrnl. (1991) 70 Out of my window I see..a man walking out of an alleyway in little steps as he buttons up his fly.
2013 A. Gibbons Raining Fire ii. 20 I buttoned my shirt and knotted my tie.
b. transitive. To enclose (something) in a pocket, etc., fastened by a button or buttons.
ΚΠ
1579 J. Brooke in tr. J. Garnier Briefe & Cleare Confession Christian Fayth To Rdr. sig. B.viiv If thou finde..[this litle Pamphlet] worthye, make it a Iewell vnto thee, beare him daily in thy hand, or button him nere thy hart in thy bosom.
1644 Fallacies of W. Prynne Discovered 22 He must take the title Traytor home, it will dwell in his house, and be buttoned in his doublet.
1698 F. Grant Sadducismus Debellatus 45 He having brought along with him those pieces of Cloth, buttoned up in his Pocket.., they were missing in the morning.
1797 Whole Proc. King's Comm. Peace (City of London & County of Middlesex) 165/1 I searched the prisoner, and found upon him..the other piece buttoned up in the inside of his breeches in the front.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes v. 282 Something he can button in his pocket.
1864 Mag. for Young Sept. 290 Jack had got Euclid buttoned up inside his jacket.
1933 R. Byron Jrnl. 19 Oct. in Road to Oxiana (1937) ii. 61 Christopher has found the wallet buttoned in his shirt.
1959 W. Faulkner Mansion (1965) xvi. 384 The Warden his-self helped him button the money and the pardon both inside his jumper.
2010 S. Junger War i. v. 78 I had my press pass buttoned into a pants pocket along with a headlamp, a folding knife, and notebook and pens.
c. transitive (reflexive). To fasten the clothes of (a person) with buttons. Also intransitive: to fasten the buttons of an item of clothing. Also with into and up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (reflexive)] > fasten
button1660
zip1929
to zip up1930
1660 R. Mathews Unlearned Alchymist 9 He could not button himself, nor put on his clothes.
1673 H. N. Payne Fatal Jealousie i. i. 6 (stage direct.) The Scene changes, Discovers Jasper, as from Bed, Buttoning himself.
1778 London Mag. May 223/2 The Frenchman always buttons himself from top to bottom, the Spaniard from bottom to top.
1797 S. James Narr. Voy. 98 I often took myself upon deck in the heat of the day, and putting on a great coat, buttoned myself up.
1855 Chambers's Jrnl. 22 Sept. 187/2 I had to button up against a succession of short summer showers.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 66 I buttoned myself into my coat.
1920 C. S. Brooks Luca Sarto v. 55 Folk, too, were coming from their homes, buttoning themselves on their steps.
1959 E. Connell Mrs. Bridge xxiv. 64 And button yourself up, for goodness sake. You look like a chorus girl.
2004 J. C. Scott Cassandra, Lost (2005) v. 48 These days, she laced and hooked and buttoned herself into high-necked, cotton nightgowns and lay beside him unapproachable as stone.
d. intransitive. Of garments: to be, or be capable of being, fastened with buttons. Often with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (intransitive)] > fasten
button1776
to zip up1930
lace1985
1776 R. Chandler Trav. Greece xxvi. 123 The sleeves button occasionally to the hand, and are lined with red or yellow sattin.
1781 R. B. Sheridan Trip to Scarborough i. ii. 11 If it had been tighter, 'twould neither have hook'd nor button'd.
?1795 J. Butler Plan of Improvem. in Constr. & Use of Fire-arms 21 A large cape..made to button across the chest.
1839 New Monthly Mag. Apr. 483 A jacket that buttons up close to the neck.
1875 W. Besant & J. Rice With Harp & Crown II. iii. 66 It [sc. the coat] buttons across the chest.
1902 Vogue 28 Aug. 261/2 The skirt is untrimmed, but buttons up with white pearl buttons.
1942 L. D. Rich We took to Woods x. 312 A rubber apron buttons tight about his waist.
1974 M. Kelly Girl in Alley vii. 114 She went in for dresses that buttoned low at the front and had to be filled in with modesty vests.
2005 S. Whiteside tr. P. Rambaud Napoleon's Exile iii. 162 His tight trousers refused to button up beneath his imposing belly.
5. In extended or figurative use.
a. transitive. To close tightly; to fasten, to confine, to keep under restraint. Often with up.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restraint depriving of liberty > confinement > confine [verb (transitive)]
beloukOE
loukOE
sparc1175
pena1200
bepen?c1225
pind?c1225
prison?c1225
spearc1300
stopc1315
restraina1325
aclosec1350
forbara1375
reclosea1382
ward1390
enclose1393
locka1400
reclusea1400
pinc1400
sparc1430
hamperc1440
umbecastc1440
murea1450
penda1450
mew?c1450
to shut inc1460
encharter1484
to shut up1490
bara1500
hedge1549
hema1552
impound1562
strain1566
chamber1568
to lock up1568
coop1570
incarcerate1575
cage1577
mew1581
kennel1582
coop1583
encagea1586
pound1589
imprisonc1595
encloister1596
button1598
immure1598
seclude1598
uplock1600
stow1602
confine1603
jail1604
hearse1608
bail1609
hasp1620
cub1621
secure1621
incarcera1653
fasten1658
to keep up1673
nun1753
mope1765
quarantine1804
peg1824
penfold1851
encoop1867
oubliette1884
jigger1887
corral1890
maroon1904
to bang up1950
to lock down1971
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xi. ix. 151 The Princes eares would be buttened and deafe [L. clausae].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. ii. 34 On[e] whose hard heart is button'd vp with steele. View more context for this quotation
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IV. xxxi. 214 What is the life of man! Is it not to shift from side to side?—from sorrow to sorrow?—to button up one cause of vexation!—and unbutton another!
1821 C. Lamb in Sat. Mag. 13 Oct. 359 I was travelling in a stage coach with three male Quakers, buttoned up in the straitest non-conformity of their sect.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. iv. iii. 222 Thoughts—which he must button close up.
1925 E. E. Cummings & 24 My eyes were buttoned with pain.
2004 I. Calder Untold Story xii. 280 During the O.J. epic..he buttoned up the Brown family tightly and exclusively.
b. transitive. In passive. colloquial. To remain silent. In early use: to behave in a formal, reserved manner. Chiefly with up.
ΚΠ
1872 E. B. Emery Queens 116 If a man has nothing, the best thing he can do for himself is to button up, and stay buttoned up.
1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep ix. 53 Okey, keep buttoned, kid.
1987 N. Y. Times 5 Sept. 5/5 Military and consul officials here have remained buttoned up about precisely what is going on.
2015 G. Bywaters Red Storm x. 137 Jenkins stayed buttoned up. I might as well have had dialogue with the wall behind him.
c. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). button it: to close one's mouth, to cease talking. Chiefly used in the imperative: ‘shut up’ (cf. sense 5b). Also with up.
ΚΠ
1918 G. R. Chester in Cosmopolitan Apr. 69/2 ‘Here's this big stranger who takes it away from you with a mere forefinger, a mere “Psst”, a mere—’. ‘Aw, button it!’ snarled the venomous J. Rufus.
1942 Cumberland (Maryland) Evening Times 21 Jan. 8/2 ‘Button it up, pal,’ I said. I didn't like the way things were shaping.
1954 S. Palmer & C. Rice Autopsy & Eva in Ellery Queen's Myst. Mag. Aug. 41/2 ‘All right, sister!’ said the detective wearily. ‘Button it, will you?’
1999 N.Y. Times 20 Mar. d3 They share another hunger—the desire to verbalize, to explain... They are so much alike that Calhoun must sometimes tell El-Amin to just button it up, leave it alone. Quiet!
2002 M. Arnold Fields of Clover xvii. 159 ‘Hey, Butane.’ Jared again. Butane wished he would button it up, permanently.
2003 G. Mitchell Loyal Women ii. 13 Sit down and button it wee girl. One word and I'll knock you out.
6. transitive. To fasten (a door, gate, window, etc.) with a button (button n. 4). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > close or shut [verb (transitive)] > close (a door, window, etc.) > bolt, bar, or lock
sparc1175
pena1200
louka1225
bara1300
shutc1320
lockc1325
clicketc1390
keyc1390
pinc1390
sneckc1440
belocka1450
spare?c1450
latch1530
to lock up1549
slot1563
bolt1574
to lock to?1575
double-lock1594
stang1598
obserate1623
padlock1722
button1741
snib1808
chain1839
1741 J. Parry True Anti-Pamela 179 At that, she ran to the Parlour Door, and button'd it.
1753 H. Fielding Clear State of Case E. Canning 43 Mary Squires forced the said Elizabeth Canning up Stairs into the said Workshop, and buttoned the Door.
1847 Trewman's Exeter Flying Post 19 Aug. The prisoner..stood for a moment undecided in the centre of the room, and then went and closed and buttoned the window.
1899 Union Signal (Chicago) 7 Dec. 7/2 I first buttoned the gate, but he soon found out how to open it.
1918 Woman's Home Compan. July 18/2 She shut the door, buttoned it securely, and..set off quickly for the truck.
1981 Tennessee Folklore Soc. Bull. 47 32 When the girl next door came to play with me, her mother called out, ‘Button the gate!’
Phrases
P1. slang or colloquial. to button (a person's) lip (also mouth), also (esp. in early use) to button up (a person's) lip (also mouth), and variants: to silence (a person).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > loss or lack of voice > deprive of voice [verb (transitive)] > put to silence
to put silence toc1384
to stop (one's own or another's) mouthc1384
to put (a person or thing) to silencea1464
mumc1475
stillc1540
to button up (a person's) lip (also mouth)1601
obacerate1656
bouche1721
to shut up1814
to pipe down1926
to button (a person's) lip (also mouth)1968
1601 J. Deacon & J. Walker Dialogicall Disc. Spirits & Diuels To Rdr. sig. a2v We haue..buttoned vp their lips, or euer they begin to speake.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts 526 How easily can God button up the mouths of our busiest adversaries.
1888 Belleville (Kansas) Telescope 27 Dec. To button up his small friend's back was an easy matter, but to button up his mouth..was quite futile.
1968 Brandon (Manitoba) Sun 8 Aug. 8/4 He will give his sister a reply that will button her lip for all time.
2007 M. Phillips Gods behaving Badly (2008) xvii. 102 ‘Don't act the idiot,’ said Apollo, ‘or I'll button your lip. Permanently.’
P2. slang or colloquial. to button one's lip (also mouth), also (esp. in early use) to button up one's lip (also mouth), and variants: to be silent. Frequently in imperative.
ΚΠ
1630 R. Harris 2 Serm. Good Conscience ii. 30 A power of speaking is not much, if a man will button vp his lippes.
1765 J. Redick Detection Conduct & Proc. Messrs. Annan & Henderson 25 And so pronouncing himself free from my Charge, (buttoned his Mouth and sat down).
1868 Notes & Queries 1 603 At school, it was thought quite an accomplishment in the young gentlemen who were fast of tongue to be able to silence a talkative comrade with the phrase ‘button your lip’.
1936 A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza xxv. 352 Mr. Beavis..began to describe his researches into modern American slang..Horse feathers, dish the dope, button up your face—delicious!
1936 C. Odets Paradise Lost in Six Plays (1939) 200 Button up your funny mouth, Gussie!
1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 22/2 Button up your lip, don't talk.
2000 M. Barrowcliffe Girlfriend 44 xvi. 423 I decided to button my lip on the subject of modern manners and did as I was bidden.
Phrasal verbs
With adverbs in specialized senses. to button up
1. intransitive. To stop talking; to refuse to talk; (originally Stock Market) to maintain secrecy concerning investment losses. [Compare earlier buttoned-up adj. 3.]
ΚΠ
1841 [implied in: F. Jackson Week in Wall Street iii. 47 Strange as it may seem, not a man could be found in Wall-street, who confessed the ownership of a share; where three weeks before there were thousands. This is called ‘buttoning up’.].
1857 Knickerbocker Jan. 35 There's no special call for blowing that I know of—at least not along Wall-street, where men often ‘button up’ for much less.
1937 N. R. Nash So Wonderful! (in White) 14 Janey, don't button up every time I try to talk to you. Tell me. What is it?
1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed ix. 61 If the little pusher chose to button up now, I would be left helpless.
2007 J. Kavenna Inglorious (2008) 5 Her experience was general not exceptional and she really ought to button up.
2. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To complete or conclude (something, esp. a business transaction) satisfactorily or successfully; to finish, finalize.
ΚΠ
1906 Harrisonburg (Va.) Daily News 18 June 1/3 Absentee senators and representatives who thought legislation was ‘all buttoned up’, as Speaker Canon says, are coming back to Washington.
1915 Grand Rapids (Michigan) Furnit. Rec. Oct. 266/1 Upon the approach depends 25 per cent (to put it low) of buttoning up a sale.
1957 Monopoly Probl. Regulated Industries: Hearings before Antitrust Subcomm. No. 5 (U.S. House of Representatives, 84th Congr., 2nd Sess.) VII. 5668 As soon as the business affairs people get that contract buttoned up, so that they have got the rights to that game, then the sales department will go out and try to find an advertiser.
1990 P. Bart Fade Out vii. 127 Kirk and I want you to button up the deal.
2016 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 18 Jan. (Sport section) 66 The sole British challenger..will be making an all out effort to make a top six place prior to the Italian round which buttons up the series.
Compounds
button-through adj. and n. (a) adj. of a garment: fastened with buttons from top to bottom; (b) n. a style in which a garment is fastened with buttons from top to bottom; (also) a garment fastened in this way.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > fastened in specific way > buttoned
buttoned1657
button-up1836
buttoned-down1871
button-through1881
button-down1883
1881 Boston Daily Globe 28 Oct. 1/1 (advt.) Cut single-breasted sack (button through); a very genteel little garment.
1906 News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.) 7 Apr. 1/4 (advt.) The ‘button-through’ is something new!
1952 C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing viii. 275 Wool housecoat in button-through style.
1974 Golfdom Jan. 43/1 A complete line of men's and ladies' golfwear... Skirts in many colors, in wrap around style and button throughs.
1997 M. Keyes Rachel's Holiday lvii. 482 That night she was wearing a straw hat and a long button-through flowery frock.
2016 Times (Nexis) 16 Nov. (T2 section) 5 Particularly good is a tie-sleeved striped poplin button-through.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.c1330
v.c1380- on this showing
- on this side nothing
- on this side of
- on this side of the etc
- on this side of the pond
- on this side of the puddle
- on this side of the water
- on this sort
- on this wise
- on thiskin wise
- on thorns
- on thorns a thorn
- on those days
- on throne
- on tib's eve
- opensteek
- openstep
- openstreeted
- opentail
- opentextured
- opentexturedness
- openthrappled
- openthroated
- opentide
- opentoe