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button up

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verb (tr, adverb)
to fasten (a garment) with a button or buttons
informal to conclude (business) satisfactorily
buttoned up slang taciturn; silent and somewhat tense
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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

How to use button up in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with button up

button up

1

Close securely, fasten, as in The house was all buttoned up, or Button up your coat—it's very cold. [Late 1500s]

2

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]

3

Finish successfully, as in I've got this report all buttoned up. [c. 1940]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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