Buttonheld

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Stopped a person and held them in a lengthy conversation they could not easily escape from
2. Cornered someone by grabbing hold of their coat or button and talking at them at length
3. Waylaid a listener and kept them trapped in tedious talk against their wishes

Etymology: A person who is buttonholed has been caught by the coat and kept talking. The verb grows from the noun "buttonhole," a compound of "button" and "hole," the slit cut in cloth to take a button. The figurative sense comes from the physical act of seizing a listener's coat button to stop them from walking away. "Buttonholed" is the past tense and past participle of that verb, so its history is the same. The image of being pinned in place by a grip on your clothing explains why the word suits a conversation you could not escape.