butt

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: bŭt, IPA(key): /bʌt/ (Northern England) IPA(key): /bʊt/ Rhymes: -ʌt Homophone: but === Etymology 1 === From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot. ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) (countable) The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end (Canada, US, Cumbria, Philippines, slang) The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass). (slang) The whole buttocks and pelvic region that includes one's private parts. (slang, metonymic) Body; self. (leather trades) The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks. (countable) The waste end of anything. (slang) A used cigarette. A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field. c. 1850-1860, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A New Law Dictionary and Glossary The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields. (obsolete, West Country) Hassock. (US) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread. Synonyms: boot, heel (countable, generally) An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end. The end of a firearm opposite to that from which a bullet is fired. (lacrosse) The plastic or rubber cap used to cover the open end of a lacrosse stick's shaft in order to reduce injury. The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose. The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib. (mechanical) A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering. Synonym: butt joint (carpentry) A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, etc., so named because it is attached to the inside edge of the door and butts against the casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge. (shipbuilding) The joint where two planks in a strake meet. The blunt back part of an axehead or large blade. Also called the poll. (dialect or nautical, possibly dated) The direction from which the wind blows. (countable) A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. A mark to be shot at; a target. archery butt ― archery target (usually as "butt of (a) joke") A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed. Synonym: laughing stock The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice. (dialectal) The entire ground (range) on which archers' target practice takes place. archery butt ― archery ground ===== Usage notes ===== The word butt for "buttocks" is considered less vulgar than arse or ass, but not as polite as bottom or rear end. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== butt (third-person singular simple present butts, present participle butting, simple past and past participle butted) To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut. ===== See also ===== (buttocks): callipygian, callipygous, dasypygal === Etymology 2 === From Middle English butten, from Anglo-Norman buter, boter (“to push, butt, strike”), from Frankish *bautan (“to hit, beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat, push”). Cognate with Old English bēatan (“to beat”). More at beat. ==== Verb ==== butt (third-person singular simple present butts, present participle butting, simple past and past participle butted) (transitive) To strike bluntly, particularly with the head. (intransitive) To strike bluntly with the head. (transitive, intransitive, eastern Canada, parts of the northeastern US) To cut in line (in front of someone). ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt. A thrust in fencing. ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === From late Middle English bote, but, butte (“wine cask”), of disputed origin. Probably (1) from Anglo-Norman but, from Old French bot (“barrel, wine-skin”), Late Latin buttis (“cask”); (2) alternatively, a later form of Middle English bitte, bit, butte (“leather bottle”), from Old English bytt, byt, from Proto-West Germanic *buttjā, from Vulgar Latin *buttia and thus a doublet of boccia. ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) (English units) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun. Synonym: pipe Coordinate terms: (in order of increasing volume) rundlet; barrel; tierce; hogshead; puncheon, tertian; tun A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons. ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ===== References ===== === Etymology 4 === From Middle English but, butte, botte (“flounder; plaice; turbot”), possibly derived from sense 1 (“blunt end”), meaning "blunt-headed fish." Compare Dutch bot and the second element of English halibut. Cognate with West Frisian bot, German Low German Butt, German Butt, Butte, Swedish butta. ==== Alternative forms ==== but ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) (Northern England) Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot ===== Derived terms ===== halibut ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 5 === Variant of putt. ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) (dated, West Country and Ireland) A heavy two-wheeled cart. (dated, West Country and Ireland) A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow. ===== Derived terms ===== ==== References ==== "butt, n.14" in Oxford English Dictionary (online edition). === Etymology 6 === Originally apparently a less-desired cut, named either due to its often being packed in butts (“casks”) for storage and shipping, or from the use of butt to refer to "the larger or thicker end of something, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end" or "the waste end". ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) The shoulder of an animal, especially the portion above the picnic, as a cut of meat. === Etymology 7 === ==== Noun ==== butt (plural butts) (colloquial, Wales) Synonym of butty (“a friend or buddy”). 2025, Eleri Griffiths, Woman goes viral after delivery photo catches her in just a towel (BBC News) [3] "He looks up, laughs as he sees the way I'm looking - soaking wet and in a towel - takes a full-blown picture, and just walks off."I'm like, 'cheers butt'," she added. ==== References ==== Wright, Joseph (1898), The English Dialect Dictionary‎[4], volume 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 463–465 Patricia T. O'Conner; Stewart Kellerman quoting Steve Hartman Keiser (27 December 2021), “Cut, butt, skip, or ditch in line?”, in Grammarphobia‎[5], archived from the original on 21 May 2023: “He says "budding" (or "butting") "appears to have a wider general distribution than budging" and "can be found in eastern Canada, upstate New York (where budging is also attested), Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Ohio."” === Further reading === “butt”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “butt”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. == Norwegian Bokmål == === Etymology === From Middle Low German butt, bott. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /bʉt/ === Adjective === butt (neuter singular butt, definite singular and plural butte, comparative buttere, indefinite superlative buttest, definite superlative butteste) blunt (not sharp) (vinkel) obtuse (angle between 90 and 180 degrees) === References === “butt” in The Bokmål Dictionary. == Norwegian Nynorsk == === Etymology 1 === From Middle Low German butt, bott. ==== Adjective ==== butt (neuter singular butt, definite singular and plural butte, comparative buttare, indefinite superlative buttast, definite superlative buttaste) blunt (not sharp) (vinkel) obtuse (angle between 90 and 180 degrees) === Etymology 2 === See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. ==== Verb ==== butt past participle of bu === References === “butt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary. == Pumpokol == === Etymology === Inherited from Proto-Yeniseian *bes (“rabbit”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /but/ === Noun === butt (plural unknown) hare, wild rabbit === References === === Further reading === Портфель Миллера in Russian state archives, folio 199. Werner, Heinrich K. (2005), Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz KG, →ISBN, page 180