Word: button Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. Doublet of bouton, Biden, and beat. More at butt. Pronunciation: /ˈbʌtən/, [ˈbʌtʰən] ~ [ˈbʌtʰn̩], [ˈbʌt̚n̩], /ˈbʌʔən/, [ˈbʌʔən] ~ [ˈbʌʔn̩] 1. A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener. Example: I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper. Example: Rather should it be said that these ladies wore dress of military style, since there was nothing uniform about their outfits, one being in powder-blue with silver buttons and a forage-cap, the other in tan with gold buttons and the dinkiest of red-peaked kepis. 2. A mechanical device designed to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism. Example: Pat pushed the button marked "shred" on the blender. 3. An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function. Example: Click the button that looks like a house to return to your browser's home page. 4. A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric. Labels: US Example: The politician wore a bright yellow button with the slogan "Vote Smart" emblazoned on it. 5. A bud. Example: O queen Emilia, / Fresher than May, sweeter / Than her gold buttons on the boughs, 6. The calyx of an orange. Example: Not well healed, or aggregating more than a circle 14 inch in diameter on a 200 size orange. More than a few adjacent to the "button" at the stem end or more than 6 scattered on other portions of the fruit. 7. The head of an unexpanded mushroom. 8. The clitoris. Labels: slang 9. The center (bullseye) of the house. 10. The soft circular tip at the end of a foil. 11. A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button. 12. The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button. 13. A person who acts as a decoy. Labels: archaic 14. A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement-marking painted stripe. 15. The end of a runway. Example: In attempting to touch down on the button of the runway, he misjudged his altitude and struck a pile of rocks short of the runway. The right wheel was torn off and the gear leg bent backwards. Example: The second and slightly higher aircraft on the approach showed no reaction to this barrage of pyrotechnics and continued blissfully down toward the button of the runway. 16. A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug). Labels: South-Africa, slang 17. A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door. 18. A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion. 19. A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass. 20. A small white blotch on a cat's coat. 21. A unit of length equal to ¹⁄₁₂ inch. Labels: UK, archaic 22. The means for initiating a nuclear strike or similar cataclysmic occurrence. Example: Pandora's box of holocausts gracefully cruising satellite infested heavens, waiting, the season of the button, the penultimate migration, radioactive perfumes for the fashionably, for the terminally, insane. Example: It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test 23. The oblate spheroidal mass of glass attaching a stem to either its bowl or foot. 24. In an instrument of the violin family, the near-semicircular shape extending from the top of the back plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck. 25. Synonym of endbutton, part of a violin-family instrument. 26. Synonym of adjuster. 27. The least amount of care or interest; a whit or jot. Example: 'She has heard from us this morning,' said Mr. Gamble, grinning on his watch, 'and she knows all by this time, and 'tisn't a button to her.' Example: As to that I did not care a button, but I had wanted to hear about Betty, and now her name was barely mentioned. 28. The punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene. Example: One thing you definitely don't want to do is write past the button. For example, a scene's natural button might run something like this: TONY: That kind of talk is exactly what I'm talking about. Whereas an example of writing past the button would sound something like this: TONY: That kind of talk is exactly what I'm talking about. CARMELLA: Okay. 'Bye. TONY: Bye. 29. The final joke at the end of a comedic act (such as a sketch, set, or scene). Example: Scenes usually go out on a laugh line, a stinger or a button. End your script with a twist! Example: With our show, one thing we wanted to do was give our best effort to always put a button on the scene. 30. A button man; a professional assassin. Labels: slang Example: FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch. I remember when he was just a 'button,' when we were kids. 31. The final segment of a rattlesnake's rattle. Example: Hardly a rattler is ever reported in the newspapers unless it is stated to have had "blank rattles and a button". But here button usually means the terminal lobe of the last rattle, even though the string may not be complete, the true button and additional rattles having been lost. 32. A clove (of garlic). Labels: Southern-US, dated 33. Pedicle; the attachment point for antlers in cervids.