Button
Button ({not transcribed}) , noun
[Old English boton, botoun, French bouton button, bud, prop. something pushing out, from bouter to push. See Butt an end.]
1.
A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
2.
A catch, of various forms and materials, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, by being attached to one part, and passing through a slit, called a buttonhole, in the other; -- used also for ornament.
3.
A bud; a germ of a plant. — Shakespeare
4.
A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.
5.
A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
Collocations (5)
Button hook , a hook for catching a button and drawing it through a buttonhole, as in buttoning boots and gloves.
Button shell (Zoology) , a small, univalve marine shell of the genus Rotella.
Button snakeroot (Botany) , (a) The American composite genus Liatris, having rounded buttonlike heads of flowers. (b) An American umbelliferous plant with rigid, narrow leaves, and flowers in dense heads.
Button tree (Botany) , a genus of trees (Conocarpus), furnishing durable timber, mostly natives of the West Indies.
To hold by the button , to detain in conversation to weariness; to bore; to buttonhole.
Button ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb
[Old English botonen, Old French botoner, French boutonner. See Button, n.]
1.
To fasten with a button or buttons; to inclose or make secure with buttons; -- often followed by up.
He was a tall, fat, long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a tight green coat.
2.
To dress or clothe. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
Button , intransitive verb
To be fastened by a button or buttons; as, the coat will not button.