buttonhole
noun
had buttonholed
-
past perfectof buttonhole.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Only one character in “Sign” identifies as Black, which surprised white critics who had buttonholed Hansberry as a writer devoted to Black characters.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
Daviau had buttonholed two board game fans to play the game with us—a mathematician with more than 2,500 games in his collection and an engineer who has been coming to the Gathering for 15 years.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2016
“But five days!” he would whisper, excitedly, when he had buttonholed a stranger in the shop.
From Doctor Luke of the Labrador by Norman Duncan
Lord Mallow had no share in this conversation, for the Duke had buttonholed him, and was giving him a detailed account of the cart-horse's symptoms.
From Vixen, Volume III. by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
On one or two occasions, the anxious Ferris had buttonholed the reinstated Wade, when the careful manager visited the "Art Gallery."
From The Midnight Passenger : a novel by Richard Savage
