butting

[ buht-ing ]

/ ˈbʌt ɪŋ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR butting ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a boundary; limit.

Nearby words

Origin of butting

First recorded in 1545–55; butt³ + -ing¹

butt

[ buht ]

/ bʌt /

noun

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.

verb (used without object)

to have an end or projection on; be adjacent to; abut.

verb (used with object)

to position or fasten an end (of something).

to place or join the ends (of two things) together; set end-to-end.

Origin of butt

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French but target, goal, probably ≪ Old Norse bútr butt¹, from the use of a wooden block or stump as a target in archery, etc.

SYNONYMS FOR butt

1. victim, target, mark, dupe, gull, laughingstock, prey, pigeon, patsy.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR butt ON THESAURUS.COM

butt

[ buht ]

/ bʌt /

verb (used with object)

to strike or push with the head or horns.

verb (used without object)

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.

noun

a push or blow with the head or horns.

Verb Phrases

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 butt

1150–1200; Middle Englishbutten < Anglo-French buter, Old French boter to thrust, strike < Germanic; compare Middle Dutch botten to strike, sprout

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for butting

Ironically, Joe Ricketts is butting heads with Emanuel, recently asked to revive super-PAC efforts on behalf of Obama.
Joe Ricketts’s Super-PAC Attacks True Victim: Wrigley Field|James Warren|September 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Literally every second counted when butting heads with the competition.
The Story of the American Journalists Who Landed on D-Day|Timothy M. Gay|June 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST
During filming, Chartier confided in friends about how difficult the film was, and how he was butting heads with Bigelow and Boal.
The Pariah of Oscar Weekend|Nicole LaPorte|March 4, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Kaplan and Dobbs—both big and tall Alpha males given to butting heads—cordially despised each other and let each other know it.
What Happened to the Real Lou?|Lloyd Grove|August 5, 2009|DAILY BEAST

He can break open a door by butting it with his head, and the door is the only sufferer.
In Court and Kampong|Hugh Clifford
The young ones are playing like little sheep, jumping and butting around and having a regular frolic.
The Young Alaskans in the Rockies|Emerson Hough
"Pardon me for butting in this way, but I am in a deuce of a hurry and told the boy it was all right," Farland said.
The Brand of Silence|Harrington Strong
All grinned and stared at the clerk, for he ran like a madman, and looked worse than if a ram had been butting him all night long.
The Norwegian Fairy Book|Clara Stroebe
You ever hear about the gent who was kicked out of Paradise and told to go scoot along on his belly for butting in?
Bulldog Carney|W. A. Fraser

British Dictionary definitions for butting

Butt

/ (bʌt) /

noun

Dame Clara . 1872–1936, English contralto

butt

/ (bʌt) /

noun

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 for butt

C15 (in the sense: thick end of something, buttock): related to Old English buttuc end, ridge, Middle Dutch bot stumpy

butt

/ (bʌt) /

noun

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

verb

(usually foll by on or against) to lie or be placed end on to; abutto butt a beam against a wall

Word Origin for butt

C14 (in the sense: mark for archery practice): from Old French but; related to French butte knoll, target

butt

/ (bʌt) /

verb

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

noun

a blow with the head or horns

Derived Formsbutter, noun

Word Origin for butt

C12: from Old French boter, of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch botten to strike; see beat, button

butt

⁴

/ (bʌt) /

noun

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 for butt

C14: from Old French botte, from Old Provençal bota, from Late Latin buttis cask, perhaps from Greek butinē chamber pot

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

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

"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]

butting

noun

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Origin of butting

butt

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verb (used with object)

Origin of butt

butt

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Verb Phrases

Origin of butt

Examples from the Web for butting

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