butting

[buht-ing]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR butting ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a boundary; limit.

Origin of butting

First recorded in 1545–55; butt³ + -ing¹

butt

[buht]

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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR butt ON THESAURUS.COM

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

butt

[buht]

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

Related Words for butting

tush, backside, behind, bottom, bum, derriere, smack, collide, shove, ass, fanny, keister, rear, seat, tail, buck, poke, knock, bump

Examples from the Web for butting

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of butting

Nobody must tell me I'm a meddler, butting in where I have no business.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine
I knew they didn't want me butting in while they planned their race.
Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore
Pauline 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-Power
Edgar Wallace
Do you see who's standing there butting in on the private talk of two gents?
Blow The Man Down
Holman Day

British Dictionary definitions for butting

Butt

noun

Dame Clara . 1872–1936, English contralto

butt

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

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

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

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]