Word: buck Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ-ko-s Proto-Germanic *bukkaz Proto-Germanic *bukkô Proto-West Germanic *bukkō Old English bucca Middle English bukke English buck Inherited from Middle English bukke. Doublet of puck (“billy goat”). Currency-related senses hail from American English, a clipping of buckskin as a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days (attested from 1748). The idea of rigidly standing implements is instilled by Dutch bok (“sawhorse”) as in zaagbok (“sawbuck”). The sense of an object indicating someone’s turn then occurred in American English, possibly originating from the game poker, where a knife (typically with a hilt made from a stag horn) was used as a place-marker to signify whose turn it was to deal. The place-marker was commonly referred to as a buck, which reinforced the term “pass the buck” used in poker, and eventually a silver dollar was used in place of a knife, which also led to a dollar being referred to as a buck. Pronunciation: /ˈbʌk/, /ˈbʊk/, /ˈbɜk/, /ˈbäk/, /ˈbɐ̞k/ 1. A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad and kangaroo. 2. An uncastrated sheep, a ram. Labels: US 3. An antelope of either sex; compare with Afrikaans bok. Labels: Africa Example: There are all kinds of game in the valley, and you are unlucky if you do not see a giraffe or an ostrich, or at least a herd of buck. 4. The sound made by a chicken. 5. A young buck; an adventurous, impetuous, dashing, or high-spirited young man. Example: Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […] 6. A fop or dandy. Labels: UK, obsolete Example: This pusillanimous creature thinks himself, and would be thought, a buck. Example: The Captain was then a buck and dandy, during the reign of those two successive dynasties, of the first rank of the second order ; the characteristic of which very respectable rank of fashionables I hold to be, that their spurs impinge upon the pavement oftener than upon the sides of a horse. 7. A black or Native American man. Labels: US, dated, derogatory Example: As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl. Example: But this buck claimed he was a big war chief with the Nawyecky Comanches. 8. An Aboriginal man. Labels: Australia, derogatory, obsolete Example: ‘A couple of Old Men wanted that young lubra and they’ve spurred on the bucks to chase Possum and cut his liver out.’ 9. Lowest rank; a private. Labels: US, slang 10. A unit of a particular currency Labels: Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, US, informal Example: Can I borrow five bucks? Example: Won't yer give Jake ten bucks ter buy hisself some close, so he look nice 'mong de gemmens? 11. A unit of a particular currency Labels: South-Africa, informal 12. A unit of a particular currency Labels: UK, obsolete, slang Example: three and a buck 13. A unit of a particular currency Labels: informal, rare Example: Those fools are all probably sitting outside the pork store, recalling the incident about losing a thousand bucks with the fake Gajas, and chewing on their soggy stogies. 14. A unit of a particular currency Labels: Australia, South-Africa, US, broadly, informal Example: Corporations will do anything to make a buck. Example: It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation. 15. A unit of a particular currency 16. One hundred. Labels: US, slang Example: The police caught me driving a buck forty [140 miles per hour] on the freeway. Example: That skinny guy? C’mon, he can’t weigh more than a buck and a quarter [125 pounds]. 17. Clipping of buckshot. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping Example: He loaded the shotgun with two rounds of double-ought buck. 18. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. Labels: UK, dialectal 19. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. 20. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. 21. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. Example: Plans in hand, Frank first paid his friend Raniero a visit, and the artisan quickly went to work on a fortified wood buck that would serve as a form for the Griffith 600 Series, as the car was formally known and marketed by Griffith Motors. 22. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. Labels: dated 23. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness. Labels: broadly, dated Example: pass the buck Example: the buck stops here 24. Synonym of buck dance. Labels: dated 25. Synonym of mule (“type of cocktail with ginger ale etc.”). 26. A kind of large marble in children's games. Labels: dated, slang 27. An unlicensed cabman. Labels: UK, obsolete, slang