buttonhole
/ˈbʌtənˌhoʊl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.18 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The mouth, nose or eyes of a tiny appearance.
Example Sentences
- "The usual cause of conjunctival buttonholes is penetration of the tissue by the tip of a sharp instrument […]"
- "He backed Mr. Lykins against an iron fence, buttonholed him, fastened him with his eye, like the ancient mariner, and proceeded to unfold his narrative as placidly and peacefully as if we were all stretched comfortably in a blossomy summer meadow instead of being persecuted by a wintry midnight tempest: […]"
- "He buttonholed people on the street and related details of his child’s miraculous progress without even prefacing his remarks with the hypocritical but polite: “I know everyone thinks their own child is smart but—”"
- "Hiro and Chuck grab the closest thing they can find to a corner table. Hiro buttonholes a waiter and surreptitiously orders a pitcher of Pub Special, mixed half and half with nonalcoholic beer."
- "Here they are, the brainless few we had been raised to pity and fear, the Stone Age oafs and the seething runts and the ominous, swaggering weightlifters, buttonholing kids like me out on Chancellor Avenue and telling us to keep our baseball bats at the ready in case we were called in the night to take to the streets [...]"
- "What tree of more pulchritude and symmetricalness could you nominate for roadside, street and public park planting than the graceful linden? We should possess more of the spirit which predominates in this direction in the crowning gem of America’s constitutionality—the City of Washington, D. C. ‘‘Unter den Lindens’’ would not only be found in Germany, but in all the large cities of our grand and glorious United States. Washington has her Unter den Linden in the Massachussetts^([sic]) avenue. Her North and South Capital streets are buttonholed with the stately tulips, which are fit emblems to thus adorn the meridian of the United States."
Etymology
Originally buttonhold (“a loop of string to hold a button down”), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole. By surface analysis, button + hole.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbʌtənˌhoʊl/