buck Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a gymnastic horse without pommels and with one end elongated; used lengthwise for vaulting
    vaulting horse; long horse.
  2. noun a piece of paper money worth one dollar
    dollar bill; clam; dollar; one dollar bill.
  3. noun United States author whose novels drew on her experiences as a missionary in China (1892-1973)
    Pearl Buck; Pearl Sydenstricker Buck.
  4. noun a framework for holding wood that is being sawed
    sawhorse; horse; sawbuck.
  5. noun mature male of various mammals (especially deer or antelope)
  6. verb to strive with determination
    • John is bucking for a promotion
  7. verb resist
    go against.
    • buck the trend
  8. verb move quickly and violently
    tear; shoot; charge; shoot down.
    • The car tore down the street
    • He came charging into my office
  9. verb jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched
    jerk; hitch.
    • the yung filly bucked

WordNet

Buck noun
Etymology
Akin to LG. büke, Dan. byg, Sw. byk, G. bauche: cf. It. bucato, Prov. Sp. bugada, F. buée.
Definitions
  1. Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed.
  2. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed. Obs. Shak.
Buck transitive verb
Etymology
OE. bouken; akin to LG. büken, Dan. byge, Sw. byka, G. bauchen, beuchen; cf. OF. buer. Cf. the preceding noun.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Bucked present participle & verbal noun Bucking
Definitions
  1. To soak, steep, or boil, in lye or suds; -- a process in bleaching.
  2. To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.
  3. (Mining) To break up or pulverize, as ores.
Buck noun
Etymology
OE. buk, bucke, AS. bucca, bua, he-goat; akin to D. bok, OHG. pocch, G. bock, Ir. boc, W. bwch, Corn. byk; cf. Zend bza, Skr. bukka. *256. Cf. Butcher, n.
Definitions
  1. The male of deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and rabbits. ✍ A male fallow deer is called a fawn in his first year; a pricket in his second; a sorel in his third; a sore in his fourth; a buck of the first head in his fifth; and a great buck in his sixth. The female of the fallow deer is termed a doe. The male of the red deer is termed a stag or hart and not a buck, and the female is called a hind. Brande & C.
  2. A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a dandy.
    The leading bucks of the day. Thackeray.
  3. A male Indian or negro. Colloq. U.S. ✍ The word buck is much used in composition for the names of antelopes; as, bush buck, spring buck.
Buck intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To copulate, as bucks and does.
  2. To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said of a vicious horse or mule.
Buck transitive verb
Definitions
  1. (Mil.) To subject to a mode of punishment which consists in tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees.
  2. To throw by bucking. See Buck, v. i., 2.
    The brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him out of the saddle. W. E. Norris.
Buck noun
Definitions
  1. A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck.
Buck noun
Etymology
See Beech, n.
Definitions
  1. The beech tree. Scot. Johnson.

Webster 1913