but
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: note: stressed form
ipa: /bʌt/
note: stressed form
ipa: [bɐt]
enpr: bŭt
note: stressed form
ipa: /bʊt/
ipa: /bət/
ipa: /bʊʔ/
ipa: /bət/
enpr: bət
rhymes: -ʌt
homophone: butt
Etymology: From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“without, outside of, except, only”), from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, equivalent to be- + out. Cognate with Scots but, bot (“outside, without, but”), Saterland Frisian buute (“without”), West Frisian bûten (“outside of, apart from, other than, except, but”), Dutch buiten (“outside”), Dutch Low Saxon buten (“outside”), German Low German buuten, buute (“outside”), obsolete German baußen (“outside”), Luxembourgish baussen. Compare bin, about.
Senses: examples: text: Christmas comes but once a year, so we can but wait till then.
text: If they kill us, we shall but die.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 7:4:
text: For to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love for ever.
ref: 1791, Robert Burns, Ae Fond Kiss:
text: In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.
ref: 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
text: Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was as powerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere.
ref: 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
text: Black Knight: "'Tis but a scratch." King Arthur: "A scratch? Your arm's off!"
ref: 1975, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
text: The stony outcrops are often covered but thinly with arable soil; winters are bitingly cold, and rainfall scanty and unpredictable.
ref: 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 49:
text: May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son.
ref: 1990, Claude de Bèze, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, University Press, page 153:
synonyms: word: but
word: just
word: literally
word: merely
word: no more than
word: nothing but
word: only
word: simply
glosses: Merely, only, just, no more than
examples: text: I'll have to go home early but.
text: "Supposin' the chap ain't dead, but?" Regan persisted.
ref: 1906, "Steele Rudd", Back At Our Selection, page 161:
text: ‘I didn’t like that sheila that tried to latch onto him, but.’
ref: 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 16:
synonyms: word: even so
word: nevertheless
word: notwithstanding
word: yet
word: all that said
word: anyhow
word: all the same
word: be it as it may
word: be that as it may
word: but
word: even so
word: having said that
word: howbeit
word: however
word: just the same
word: maugre
word: natheless
word: nevertheless
word: nonetheless
word: notwithstanding
word: still
word: still and all
word: that being said
word: that said
word: though
word: withal
word: yet
glosses: Though, however.