| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| button |
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| SYLLABICATION: | but·ton |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b t n |
| NOUN: | 1a. A generally disk-shaped fastener used to join two parts of a garment by fitting through a buttonhole or loop. b. Such an object used for decoration. 2. Any of various objects resembling a button, especially: a. A push-button switch. b. The blunt tip of a fencing foil. c. A fused metal or glass globule. 3. Computer Science a. In graphical user interface systems, a well-defined area within the interface that is clicked to select a command. b. In a hypertext database, an icon that when selected allows a user to view a particular associated object. 4. Any of various knoblike structures of a plant or animal, especially: a. An immature, unexpanded mushroom. b. The tip of a rattlesnake's rattle. 5. A usually round flat badge that bears a design or printed information and is typically pinned to a garment: a campaign button. 6. Informal The end of the chin, regarded as the point of impact for a punch. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: but·toned, but·ton·ing, but·tons
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To fasten with buttons: buttoned his shirt; buttoned up her raincoat. 2. To decorate or furnish with buttons. 3. Informal To close (the lips or mouth): Button your lip. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To be or be capable of being fastened with buttons: The blouse buttons up the back. | | PHRASAL VERB: | button up 1. To fasten one's clothing tightly, as against cold weather. 2. To close or seal securely: button up the cabin for winter. 3. To complete the final details of: “Publication is a couple of months off; they're just buttoning up paperback rights” (Donald Dale Jackson, Smithsonian November 1994.) | | IDIOM: | on the button Exactly; precisely. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French bouton, from bouter, to thrust, of Germanic origin. See bhau- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | button·er —NOUN
button·y —ADJECTIVE
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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