buttons

American

[buht-nz] / ˈbʌt nz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

a bellboy or page in a hotel.

buttons British

/ ˈbʌtənz /

noun

informal (functioning as singular) a page boy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of buttons

First recorded in 1840–50; so called from the many buttons of his uniform

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.

He does not like the artificiality of the racing with the overtake mode and boost buttons.

From BBC

She has pin-back buttons all over her apron with various sayings.

From Literature

Clare spent half his days tending to their whims, but they were a sweet little bunch—adorable, really—short pink stems topped by clusters of yellow buttons.

From Literature

Orbit City is full of buttons, and overworked fingers are a running gag in the show.

From The Wall Street Journal

Brown, from Manchester, said people - including herself before her injury - could be "naive" when it came to what accessibility looked like, yet subtle changes such as replacing buttons with poppers was "not rocket science".

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023