Button

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌt.n̩/

Definitions

1. A small fastener sewn or attached to clothing that passes through a slit or loop to hold two parts together
2. A small, typically circular item used to fasten garments while also serving as a control interface on devices and acting as an ornamental detail for visual enhancement
3. A small object used to secure pieces of fabric on garments ; a part pressed to operate machines or electronics ; an embellishment added for style or appearance

Etymology: The button on your shirt started life as a verb. Old French "bouter" meant "to push or thrust," and from it came "boton," a knob or bud, the thing you push. Middle English borrowed that noun as "boton" or "botoun," so the earliest buttons were probably the knobs and protrusions that pushed through a hole, rather than the flat discs we know now. The same push-and-bulge idea runs through the word's other senses. A push button is literally a thing you press, and a button on a violin is a small knob that sits at the end of the neck, where the strings are secured. Modern computer interfaces borrow the term for clickable on-screen controls, extending the same notion of something you press to get a response. The verb, "to button," came into English from the noun, meaning to fasten with buttons. "Button" and "bouton" are doublets, two forms of one word that split apart and were later reborrowed, and the Germanic root behind "bouter" also connects to "butt," meaning to strike with the head.

Synonyms: fastener, clasp