buttonhole
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to sew with a buttonhole stitch.
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to make buttonholes in.
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to hold by the buttonhole or otherwise abruptly detain (someone) in conversation.
The reporter tried to buttonhole the mayor for a statement on the bus strike.
noun
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a slit in a garment, etc, through which a button is passed to fasten two surfaces together
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US name: boutonniere. a flower or small bunch of flowers worn pinned to the lapel or in the buttonhole, esp at weddings, formal dances, etc
verb
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to detain (a person) in conversation
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to make buttonholes in
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to sew with buttonhole stitch
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of buttonhole
Vocabulary lists containing buttonhole
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Buttonhole makers will get a cent and a half per hole.
From Time Magazine Archive
Buttonhole is more useful in ornament than one might expect a stitch with such a very utilitarian name to be.
From Art in Needlework A Book about Embroidery by Buckle, Mary
Buttonhole stitch: centre and stalk in stem stitch.
From Jacobean Embroidery Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor by Fitzwilliam, Ada Wentworth
Buttonhole bouquets could be pinned upon him any day by simply stopping his customary funeral procession about town.
From Anderson Crow, Detective by McCutcheon, George Barr
That bore, Horace Buttonhole, captured me in Pall Mall East, and has kept me in the same position for upwards of half an hour.
From Vivian Grey by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
