Thursday, May 19, 2005
OED Online Word of the Day
button-hole, v.
[f. prec. n.: in sense 2 app. altered from BUTTON-HOLD. which it has almost superseded.]
1. a. intr. To sew button-holes. b. trans. To sew with button-hole stitch.
1828 [see BUTTON-HOLING below]. 1868 HOLME LEE B. Godfrey xli. 224 Whether button-holing and embroidering or not. 1882 Cassell's Fam. Mag. XCVII. 44 Penwipers..button-holed round with silk.
c. To make button-hole openings in.
1908 Practitioner Oct. 522 The hand is kept in that position..by long strips of adhesive plaster..; these are button~holed over the knuckles to adapt themselves to them.
d. Surg. To make (esp. accidentally) a button-hole incision in.
1907 Practitioner Oct. 530 It may seem impossible to strip off the muco-chondrium without buttonholing it. 1964 S. DUKE-ELDER Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxvii. 423 The dissection is made by sharp-pointed scissors in the sub~conjunctival tissue..care being taken to avoid button~holing the flap.
2. trans. = BUTTON-HOLD.
1862 All Y. Round VII. 381 The man who is button~holed, or held..and must listen to half an hour's harangue about nothing interesting. 1868 H. KINGSLEY Mathilde II. 140 He went about button-holing and boring every one. 1951 ‘A. GARVE’ Murder in Moscow iii. 48 Jeff..had buttonholed a Russian who spoke a few words of English. 1953 Encounter Oct. 58/2 Scientists were free to.publish their findings, talk about them to colleagues (or to anyone else they could buttonhole).
Hence button-holing vbl. n.: also button-holeing, and as ppl. a.
1828 MISS MITFORD Village Ser. III. (1863) 7 The..mysteries of stitching and button-holing. 1862 in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 68/2 Quarreling, fighting, button-holeing. 1873 Daily News 7 Nov. 5/5 They were subjected to a good deal of button~holing. 1883 Standard 6 Nov. 2/2 After buttonholing, the uniform goes into the hands of the ‘finishers’. 1894 Athenæum 10 Feb. 176/1 The reticence of Mr. Maartens..contrasts vividly enough with the buttonholing familiarity of his English model. 1909 H. G. WELLS Tono-Bungay II. iii. 179 That alluring, button-holeing..style of newspaper advertisement. 1963 Times 13 June 15/5 His book is a button~holing chronicle of daring theft and boudoir hanky-panky
button-hole, v.
[f. prec. n.: in sense 2 app. altered from BUTTON-HOLD. which it has almost superseded.]
1. a. intr. To sew button-holes. b. trans. To sew with button-hole stitch.
1828 [see BUTTON-HOLING below]. 1868 HOLME LEE B. Godfrey xli. 224 Whether button-holing and embroidering or not. 1882 Cassell's Fam. Mag. XCVII. 44 Penwipers..button-holed round with silk.
c. To make button-hole openings in.
1908 Practitioner Oct. 522 The hand is kept in that position..by long strips of adhesive plaster..; these are button~holed over the knuckles to adapt themselves to them.
d. Surg. To make (esp. accidentally) a button-hole incision in.
1907 Practitioner Oct. 530 It may seem impossible to strip off the muco-chondrium without buttonholing it. 1964 S. DUKE-ELDER Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxvii. 423 The dissection is made by sharp-pointed scissors in the sub~conjunctival tissue..care being taken to avoid button~holing the flap.
2. trans. = BUTTON-HOLD.
1862 All Y. Round VII. 381 The man who is button~holed, or held..and must listen to half an hour's harangue about nothing interesting. 1868 H. KINGSLEY Mathilde II. 140 He went about button-holing and boring every one. 1951 ‘A. GARVE’ Murder in Moscow iii. 48 Jeff..had buttonholed a Russian who spoke a few words of English. 1953 Encounter Oct. 58/2 Scientists were free to.publish their findings, talk about them to colleagues (or to anyone else they could buttonhole).
Hence button-holing vbl. n.: also button-holeing, and as ppl. a.
1828 MISS MITFORD Village Ser. III. (1863) 7 The..mysteries of stitching and button-holing. 1862 in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 68/2 Quarreling, fighting, button-holeing. 1873 Daily News 7 Nov. 5/5 They were subjected to a good deal of button~holing. 1883 Standard 6 Nov. 2/2 After buttonholing, the uniform goes into the hands of the ‘finishers’. 1894 Athenæum 10 Feb. 176/1 The reticence of Mr. Maartens..contrasts vividly enough with the buttonholing familiarity of his English model. 1909 H. G. WELLS Tono-Bungay II. iii. 179 That alluring, button-holeing..style of newspaper advertisement. 1963 Times 13 June 15/5 His book is a button~holing chronicle of daring theft and boudoir hanky-panky
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