button

name

1. Alternative form of Buton (“Indonesian island”).

noun

Etymology: From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. Doublet of bouton, Biden, and beat. More at butt.

1. A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.

   “I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.”

   “Rather should it be said that these ladies wore dress of military style, since there was nothing uniform about their outfits, one being in powder-blue with silver buttons and a forage-cap, the other in tan with gold buttons and the dinkiest of red-peaked kepis.”

2. A mechanical device designed to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism.

   “Pat pushed the button marked "shred" on the blender.”

3. An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function.

   “Click the button that looks like a house to return to your browser's home page.”

4. A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.

   “The politician wore a bright yellow button with the slogan "Vote Smart" emblazoned on it.”

5. A bud.

   “O queen Emilia, / Fresher than May, sweeter / Than her gold buttons on the boughs,”

6. The calyx of an orange.

   “Not well healed, or aggregating more than a circle 14 inch in diameter on a 200 size orange. More than a few adjacent to the "button" at the stem end or more than 6 scattered on other portions of the fruit.”

7. The head of an unexpanded mushroom.
8. The clitoris.
9. The center (bullseye) of the house.
10. The soft circular tip at the end of a foil.
11. A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button.
12. The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button.
13. A person who acts as a decoy.
14. A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement-marking painted stripe.
15. The end of a runway.

    “In attempting to touch down on the button of the runway, he misjudged his altitude and struck a pile of rocks short of the runway. The right wheel was torn off and the gear leg bent backwards.”

    “The second and slightly higher aircraft on the approach showed no reaction to this barrage of pyrotechnics and continued blissfully down toward the button of the runway.”

16. A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug).
17. A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door.
18. A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
19. A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
20. A small white blotch on a cat's coat.
21. A unit of length equal to ¹⁄₁₂ inch.
22. The means for initiating a nuclear strike or similar cataclysmic occurrence.

    “Pandora's box of holocausts gracefully cruising satellite infested heavens, waiting, the season of the button, the penultimate migration, radioactive perfumes for the fashionably, for the terminally, insane.”

    “It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test”

23. The oblate spheroidal mass of glass attaching a stem to either its bowl or foot.
24. In an instrument of the violin family, the near-semicircular shape extending from the top of the back plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck.
25. Synonym of endbutton, part of a violin-family instrument.
26. Synonym of adjuster.
27. The least amount of care or interest; a whit or jot.

    “'She has heard from us this morning,' said Mr. Gamble, grinning on his watch, 'and she knows all by this time, and 'tisn't a button to her.'”

    “As to that I did not care a button, but I had wanted to hear about Betty, and now her name was barely mentioned.”

28. The punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene.

    “One thing you definitely don't want to do is write past the button. For example, a scene's natural button might run something like this: TONY: That kind of talk is exactly what I'm talking about. Whereas an example of writing past the button would sound something like this: TONY: That kind of talk is exactly what I'm talking about. CARMELLA: Okay. 'Bye. TONY: Bye.”

29. The final joke at the end of a comedic act (such as a sketch, set, or scene).

    “Scenes usually go out on a laugh line, a stinger or a button. End your script with a twist!”

    “With our show, one thing we wanted to do was give our best effort to always put a button on the scene.”

30. A button man; a professional assassin.

    “FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch. I remember when he was just a 'button,' when we were kids.”

31. The final segment of a rattlesnake's rattle.

    “Hardly a rattler is ever reported in the newspapers unless it is stated to have had "blank rattles and a button". But here button usually means the terminal lobe of the last rattle, even though the string may not be complete, the true button and additional rattles having been lost.”

32. A clove (of garlic).
33. Pedicle; the attachment point for antlers in cervids.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English butonen, botonen, from the noun (see above).

1. To fasten with a button.

   “He was a tall, fat, long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a tight green coat.”

2. To be fastened by a button or buttons.

   “The coat will not button.”

3. To stop talking.