button up
Britishverb
-
to fasten (a garment) with a button or buttons
-
informal to conclude (business) satisfactorily
-
slang taciturn; silent and somewhat tense
-
Close securely, fasten, as in The house was all buttoned up , or Button up your coat—it's very cold . [Late 1500s]
-
Also, button one's lip . Hold one's tongue, keep quiet. For example, Please button your lip about the surprise . A variant of this usage, button one's mouth , dates from the 17th century. [Mid-1800s]
-
Finish successfully, as in I've got this report all buttoned up . [c. 1940]
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.
Aunt Kitty started up with her tsk-tsking as she fastened the row of buttons up the back, but I would have none of it.
From Literature
He gets a lot of credit for bringing personality to a very buttoned up and scripted media.
From Los Angeles Times
I think I hold the most back when I’m interviewing people on the red carpet, because I know I have to be buttoned up, and it’s about them.
From Los Angeles Times
“He knows how to walk a deal through step by step to make sure that everything is complete and buttoned up,” Buss said, “and that’s exactly what happened.”
From Los Angeles Times
While being escorted into the ceremony in the Capitol, eyes hidden behind her hat and coat buttoned up, she was a dead-ringer for H.G.
From Salon
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.
