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.
The Katmai brown bears are famous for standing at Brooks Falls, catching sockeye salmon in their mouths to fatten up for the winter.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2023
Can the bears fatten up enough by October to survive next winter?
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2023
Grizzlies raid caches of whitebark pine cones that are hidden by squirrels and devour the seeds within the cones to fatten up for winter.
From Washington Times • Dec. 14, 2022
Along the way, they have made epic dives to fatten up on seafood and add layers of blubber to prepare for their time on land without food.
From Washington Post • Feb. 3, 2022
“That gives the larvae a chance to fatten up nicely, the way the hens like them, but not quite long enough to hatch into flies.”
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
