Dictionary

buttinsky en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [-ˈɾɪn-] (General-American)
• /bʌˈtɪnski/ (General-American)
• /bʌˈtɪnski/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From butt in (“to join a conversation or situation in which one is not welcome or invited, interject”) + -sky (a variant of -ski (suffix added to a word, name, or phrase to invoke Russianness, Polishness, or a more general Slavicness)), humorously modelled after Russian surnames, and originally and often used in the form of a surname.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, informal) One who is prone to butt in, interrupt, or get involved where they are not welcome; a busybody.
   • Well, all right then! If you think I'm a buttinsky, then I'll just butt in! 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XX, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section I, page 252:
   • It is never pleasant for a man of sensibility to find himself regarded as a buttinski and a trailing arbutus, and it was thus, I could see at a g., that Wilbert Cream was pencilling me in. 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC, page 50:
   • "Shut up, Garrett. I never," said Mr. Tallboy, extricating himself from Garrett's grasp and giving him a playful punch in the wind, "in my life, met with such a bunch of buttinskis as you are in this department. Nothing is sacred to you, not even a man's business correspondence." 1933, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, “Murder Must Advertise. Chapter 4: Remarkable Acrobatics of a Harlequin.”, in The Five Red Herrings (Suspicious Characters): And Murder Must Advertise, Garden City, N.Y.: Nelson Doubleday, →OCLC, page 357:
   • I wish I had never met that nosy buttinsky!
2. (informal) A robust portable one-piece telephone instrument with clips, used by technicians and lines staff for testing telephone circuits or making a temporary connection to a telephone line.

Forms

Relateds

butterinsky · interloper · snoop · gatecrasher · intruder · peeping tom · encroacher · back-seat driver · snooper · persona non grata · marplot

Synonyms

butt set · kibitzer · nosey parker · butterinsky · meddler · stickybeak · yenta

Translations (1)

fi asentajapuhelin (telephone instrument)