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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

buttonhole en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbʌtənˌhoʊl/ (General-American)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Originally buttonhold (“a loop of string to hold a button down”), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole. By surface analysis, button + hole.

Meanings

  1. A hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one.
  2. (UK) A flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration.
  3. (UK, attributive) A flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration. ▸ So shaped that it can be worn on a buttonhole or it is similar to a buttonhole.
  4. A small slotlike cut or incision, made for example by an accident with the scalpel.
    • The usual cause of conjunctival buttonholes is penetration of the tissue by the tip of a sharp instrument […] 2011, George L. Spaeth, Helen Danesh-Meyer, Ivan Goldberg, Ophthalmic Surgery: Principles and Practice E-Book, page 220:
  5. The mouth, nose or eyes of a tiny appearance.
  6. (obsolete) The vagina, a coin slot.
  7. (qualifier:lightly vulgar) The butthole (anus).

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
buttonholes Number=Plur lexicographic
button-hole alternative lexicographic
button hole alternative lexicographic

Coordinates

keyhole · grommet · eyelet

Relateds

buttonhook

Synonyms

beaver · tradesman's entrance · squish mitten · clacker · quim · bootyhole · snapper · twinkle · anus · rear exit · muff · poop chute · bearded clam · twat · bonne bouche · chocolate channel · tooter · sugar walls · keister · juice box · gash · cooter · balloon knot · asspussy · sausage wallet · berk · pee-pee · cunt · coochie · butthole · gump stump · batty · bung-hole · vertical smile · poontang · vadge · fudge tunnel · browneye · tewel · pooper · kitty · cooch · punani · foo-foo · dinger · innie · craphole · arsehole · ass · clacka · front hole · whisker biscuit · farthole · trap · fanny · la-la · cookie · asshole · donut hole · slit · hoo-ha · chocolate starfish · wizard's sleeve · chuff · fuckhole · fourth point of contact · poophole · windpipe · girl · honeypot · front bottom · vulva · moocha · wazoo · asscunt · ding · Vicky · nonny · Victoria · pink bits · bumhole · love tunnel · clunge · kebab · snatch · cinnamon ring · cornhole · rusty sheriff's badge · dung funnel · bush · stench trench · fartbox · rosebud · monosyllable · va-jay-jay · boutonniere · fundament · buttonhole · batty hole · Gary Glitter · wee-wee · love box · crack · rectum · brown eye · leather cheerio · box · Grand Canyon · bum · ying-yang · bottom · axe wound · vag · dock · Virginia · cavern · turd cutter · cunny · jacksie · pump · freckle · strange · pink · bunghole · vaginer · where the sun don't shine · cooze · penis fly trap · pussy · vagina · love hole · back door · fish lips · ginch · boutonniere · tuppence · back alley · other end · minge · bun · muffin · front bum · Hershey highway · smelly freckle · minnie · a-hole · dookie hole · starfish · sheath · ringpiece · back passage · coin slot · shithole · vent · arse · shitter · cumhole · crevice · exit hole · stinkhole · sluthole · jacksy · bungus

Translations (95)

nb knapphullsblomst (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · pdt Knooploch (hole for a button) · sh ѝлика (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · sc traùccu (hole for a button) · sh kȍv (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · yi קנאָפּלאָך (hole for a button) · pa ਕਾਜ (hole for a button) · sh zȃmčica (hole for a button) · ru петля́ (hole for a button) · pl dziurka od guzika (hole for a button) · sh ѝлика (hole for a button) · mk илик (hole for a button) · sh о̏мча (hole for a button) · gl ollal (hole for a button) · sh ìlik (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · nl boutonnière (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · sc trau (hole for a button) · sdn traccu (hole for a button) · he חור כפתור (hole for a button) · fr boutonnière (hole for a button) · fa جا دکمه (hole for a button) · sh ко̏в (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · el κουμπότρυπα (hole for a button) · sh ìlika (hole for a button) · alt илмек (hole for a button) · nb knappholsblomst (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · da knaphulsblomst (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · hi काज (hole for a button) · fr boutonnière (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · de Knopfloch (hole for a button) · sc oyètte (hole for a button) · gd cneap-tholl (hole for a button) · is blóm í barm (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · nl knoopsgat (hole for a button) · sh ìlik (hole for a button) · nb knapphull (hole for a button) · es ojal (hole for a button) · nb knapphol (hole for a button) · mrw batawiyan (hole for a button) · hy լամբակ (hole for a button) · sc ayette (hole for a button) · ga poll cnaipe (hole for a button) · fa انگیله (hole for a button) · th รังดุม (hole for a button) · sh zȃmčica (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · alt илгиш (hole for a button) · is hnappagat (hole for a button) · cy twll botwm (hole for a button) · fi napinläpi (hole for a button) · sh ȍmča (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · ar عُرْوَة (hole for a button) · he אִבְקָה (hole for a button) · bcl ohal (hole for a button) · cmn 紐孔 /纽孔 (hole for a button) · mk илика (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · pt casa (hole for a button) · mk илика (hole for a button) · sh за̑мчица (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · cs knoflíková dírka (hole for a button) · gl ollete (hole for a button) · de Boutonniere (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · da knaphul (hole for a button) · is blóm í hnappagat (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · hu gomblyuk (hole for a button) · sh о̏мча (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · uk пете́лька (hole for a button) · sdc traoccu (hole for a button) · ru бутонье́рка (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · ru пе́тля (hole for a button) · gd toll-putain (hole for a button) · fi rintakukka (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · sh за̑мчица (hole for a button) · fo knapphol (hole for a button) · ru петли́ца (hole for a button) · nn knapphol (hole for a button) · bg или́к (hole for a button) · uk петля́ (hole for a button) · pl butonierka (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · eo butontruo (hole for a button) · pt botoeira (hole for a button) · it occhiello (hole for a button) · it asola (hole for a button) · pt casa de botão (hole for a button) · sh ѝлик (hole for a button) · fi napinreikä (hole for a button) · sh ȍmča (hole for a button) · sh ѝлик (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · sh ìlika (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · mk илик (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · bg петлица (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · sv knapphålsblomma (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration) · ja ボタン穴 (hole for a button) · ca trau (hole for a button) · hy կոճականցք (hole for a button) · sv knapphål (hole for a button)

buttonhole en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbʌtənˌhoʊl/ (General-American)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Originally buttonhold (“a loop of string to hold a button down”), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole. By surface analysis, button + hole.

Meanings

  1. (colloquial, transitive) To detain (a person) in conversation against their will.
    • Here they are, the brainless few we had been raised to pity and fear, the Stone Age oafs and the seething runts and the ominous, swaggering weightlifters, buttonholing kids like me out on Chancellor Avenue and telling us to keep our baseball bats at the ready in case we were called in the night to take to the streets [...] 2004, Philip Roth, The Plot Against America:
    • Hiro and Chuck grab the closest thing they can find to a corner table. Hiro buttonholes a waiter and surreptitiously orders a pitcher of Pub Special, mixed half and half with nonalcoholic beer. 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 295:
    • He backed Mr. Lykins against an iron fence, buttonholed him, fastened him with his eye, like the ancient mariner, and proceeded to unfold his narrative as placidly and peacefully as if we were all stretched comfortably in a blossomy summer meadow instead of being persecuted by a wintry midnight tempest: […] 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XXVI, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 265:
    • He buttonholed people on the street and related details of his child’s miraculous progress without even prefacing his remarks with the hypocritical but polite: “I know everyone thinks their own child is smart but—” 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter L, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part V, page 890:
  2. (ambitransitive) To cut one or more buttonholes (in).
  3. (transitive) To sew by buttonhole stitch.
  4. (archaic, transitive) To make a small slot-like incision in (intentionally or unintentionally).
  5. (rare, transitive) To apply a flowery formation in.
    • What tree of more pulchritude and symmetricalness could you nominate for roadside, street and public park planting than the graceful linden? We should possess more of the spirit which predominates in this direction in the crowning gem of America’s constitutionality—the City of Washington, D. C. ‘‘Unter den Lindens’’ would not only be found in Germany, but in all the large cities of our grand and glorious United States. Washington has her Unter den Linden in the Massachussetts^([sic]) avenue. Her North and South Capital streets are buttonholed with the stately tulips, which are fit emblems to thus adorn the meridian of the United States. 1871 December 17, Henry K. Staley, “Forestry and Apiculture”, in The American Bee Journal, volume 28, number 25, pages 781b of 779a–782b:
  6. (archaic, intransitive, rare) To attain buttonhole-like formations on cutting.
    • Furze cut it himself after his dinner, with great care and concentrated solemnity, finding the loaf rather too new and the knife too blunt for the carving of slices of ideal thinness. The beastly things would buttonhole! 1927, Warwick Deeping, Doomsday, page 77:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
button hole alternative lexicographic
button-hole alternative lexicographic
buttonholed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
buttonholed Tense=Past lexicographic
buttonholes Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
buttonholing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Coordinates

grab by the lapels

Deriveds

buttonholer

Synonyms

accost · waylay

Translations (7)

it attaccare un bottone (to detain a person in conversation) · es cazar al espartillo (to detain a person in conversation) · fi napata rintapielestä (to detain a person in conversation) · pl zatrzymać na rozmowę (to detain a person in conversation) · ru держать за пуговицу (to detain a person in conversation) · fr tenir la jambe (to detain a person in conversation) · pl zatrzymywać na rozmowę (to detain a person in conversation)