butting
- a boundary; limit.
Origin of butting
butt2
- a person or thing that is an object of wit, ridicule, sarcasm, contempt, etc.
- a target.
- (on a rifle range)
- a wall of earth located behind the targets to prevent bullets from scattering over a large area.
- butts,a wall behind which targets can be safely lowered, scored, and raised during firing practice.
- butt hinge.
- Obsolete. a goal; limit.
- to have an end or projection on; be adjacent to; abut.
- to position or fasten an end (of something).
- to place or join the ends (of two things) together; set end-to-end.
Origin of butt2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for butt on Thesaurus.combutt3
- to strike or push with the head or horns.
- to strike or push something or at something with the head or horns.
- to project.
- Machinery. (of wheels in a gear train) to strike one another instead of meshing.
- a push or blow with the head or horns.
- butt in, to meddle in the affairs or intrude in the conversation of others; interfere: It was none of his concern, so he didn't butt in.
- butt out, to stop meddling in the affairs or intruding in the conversation of others: Nobody asked her opinion, so she butted out.
Origin of butt3
Examples from the Web for butting
Contemporary Examples
Ironically, Joe Ricketts is butting heads with Emanuel, recently asked to revive super-PAC efforts on behalf of Obama.
Literally every second counted when butting heads with the competition.
During filming, Chartier confided in friends about how difficult the film was, and how he was butting heads with Bigelow and Boal.
Kaplan and Dobbs—both big and tall Alpha males given to butting heads—cordially despised each other and let each other know it.
Historical Examples
Nobody must tell me I'm a meddler, butting in where I have no business.
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
I knew they didn't want me butting in while they planned their race.
Marjorie Dean, College SophomorePauline Lester
Manager Strutt, and Manager Butt, were strutting and butting each other.
Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II.Pierce Egan
Forgive me butting into your affairs, but naturally I'm rather hazed.
The Book of All-PowerEdgar Wallace
Do you see who's standing there butting in on the private talk of two gents?
Blow The Man DownHolman Day
Butt
- Dame Clara . 1872–1936, English contralto
butt1
- the thicker or blunt end of something, such as the end of the stock of a rifle
- the unused end of something, esp of a cigarette; stub
- tanning the portion of a hide covering the lower backside of the animal
- US and Canadian informal the buttocks
- US a slang word for cigarette
- building trades short for butt joint, butt hinge
Word Origin
butt2
- a person or thing that is the target of ridicule, wit, etc
- shooting archery
- a mound of earth behind the target on a target range that stops bullets or wide shots
- the target itself
- (plural)the target range
- a low barrier, usually of sods or peat, behind which sportsmen shoot game birds, esp grouse
- archaic goal; aim
- (usually foll by on or against) to lie or be placed end on to; abutto butt a beam against a wall
Word Origin
butt3
- to strike or push (something) with the head or horns
- (intr) to project; jut
- (intr ; foll by in or into) to intrude, esp into a conversation; interfere; meddle
- butt out informal, mainly US and Canadian to stop interfering or meddling
- a blow with the head or horns
Word Origin
butt4
- a large cask, esp one with a capacity of two hogsheads, for storing wine or beer
- a US unit of liquid measure equal to 126 US gallons
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for butting
butt
n.1
"thick end," c.1400, butte, which probably is related to Middle Dutch and Dutch bot, Low German butt "blunt, dull," Old Norse bauta (see beat (v.)). Or related somehow to Old English buttuc "end, small piece of land," and Old Norse butr "short." In sense of "human posterior" it is recorded from mid-15c. Meaning "remainder of a smoked cigarette" first recorded 1847.
butt
n.2
"liquor barrel," late 14c., from Anglo-French but and Old French bot "barrel, wineskin" (14c., Modern French botte), from Late Latin buttis "cask" (see bottle (n.)). Cognate with Spanish and Portuguese bota, Italian botte. Usually a cask holding 108 to 140 gallons, or roughly two hogsheads, but the measure varied greatly.
butt
n.3
"target of a joke," 1610s, originally "target for shooting practice" (mid-14c.), from Old French but "aim, goal, end, target (of an arrow, etc.)," 13c., which seems to be a fusion of Old French words for "end" (bout) and "aim, goal" (but), both ultimately from Germanic. The latter is from Frankish *but "stump, stock, block," or some other Germanic source (cf. Old Norse butr "log of wood"), which would connect it with butt (n.1).
butt
v.
"hit with the head," c.1200, from Anglo-French buter, from Old French boter "to push, shove, knock; to thrust against," from Frankish or another Germanic source (cf. Old Norse bauta, Low German boten "to strike, beat"), from Proto-Germanic *butan, from PIE root *bhau- "to strike" (see batter (v.)). Related: Butted; butting. To butt in "rudely intrude" is American English, attested from 1900.
butt
n.4
"flat fish," c.1300, a general Germanic name applied to various kinds of flat fishes; cf. Old Swedish but "flatfish," German Butte, Dutch bot, perhaps ultimately related to butt (n.1). "Hence butt-woman, who sells these, a fish-wife." [OED]