button Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a round fastener sewn to shirts and coats etc to fit through buttonholes
noun an electrical switch operated by pressing
push; push button.
- the elevator was operated by push buttons
- the push beside the bed operated a buzzer at the desk
noun any of various plant parts that resemble buttons
noun a round flat badge displaying information and suitable for pinning onto a garment
- they passed out campaign buttons for their candidate
noun a female sexual organ homologous to the penis
clitoris; clit.
noun a device that when pressed will release part of a mechanism
release.
noun any artifact that resembles a button
verb provide with buttons
- button a shirt
verb fasten with buttons
- button the dress

OE. boton, botoun, F. bouton button, bud, prop. something pushing out, fr. bouter to push. See Butt an end.

A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
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.
A bud; a germ of a plant. Shak.
A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.
A globule of metal remaining onan assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.

OE. botonen, OF. botoner, F. boutonner. See Button, n.

imperfect & past participle Buttoned present participle & verbal noun Buttoning

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. Dickens.
To dress or clothe. Obs. Shak.