Word: butt Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot. PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn Pronunciation: /bʌt/, /bʊt/ 1. The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end. Labels: Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, slang Example: Get up off your butt and get to work. 2. The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end. Labels: Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, slang Example: I can see your butt. 3. The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end. Labels: Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, metonymically, slang Example: Get your butt to the car. Example: We can't chat today. I have to get my butt to work before I'm late. 4. The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end. Labels: countable 5. The waste end of anything. Labels: countable, slang Example: I walked around, picking butts from the street. 6. The waste end of anything. Labels: countable Example: c. 1850-1860, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A New Law Dictionary and Glossary The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields. 7. The waste end of anything. Labels: West-Country, countable, obsolete 8. The waste end of anything. Labels: US, countable 9. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable Example: She was hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun. 10. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 11. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 12. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 13. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 14. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 15. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable 16. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable Example: I put out my hand and felt the meat-chopper hanging to the wall. In a flash I was after him. [...] With one last touch of humanity I turned the blade back and struck him with the butt. 17. An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. Labels: countable, dated, dialectal, possibly Example: […] when the sun gets round to the butt of the wind, the change, if any is coming, is then to be expected. Example: […] 'the butt' of the wind, the wind will increase or continue. When the sky is light and clear in 'the butt' of the wind, the wind will die away. A strong wind which changes round with the sun E to S to W (clockwise) will die away, and[…] 18. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Labels: countable Example: Here is my journey's end, here is my butt / And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. 19. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Labels: countable Example: archery butt Example: To which is fixed, as an aim or butt[…] 20. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Labels: countable, usually Example: He's usually the butt of their jokes. Example: I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart. 21. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Labels: countable 22. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Labels: countable, dialectal Example: archery butt