BUTTON

A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.

A catch, of various forms and materials, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, by being attached to one part, and passing through a slit, called a buttonhole, in the other; -- used also for ornament.

A bud; a germ of a plant. Shak.

A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.

A globule of metal remaining onan assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion. Button hook, a hook for catching a button and drawing it through a buttonhole, as in buttoning boots and gloves. -- Button shell (Zoöl.), a small, univalve marine shell of the genus Rotella. -- Button snakeroot. (Bot.) (a) The American composite genus Liatris, having rounded buttonlike heads of flowers. (b) An American umbelliferous plant with rigid, narrow leaves, and flowers in dense heads. -- Button tree (Bot.), a genus of trees (Conocarpus), furnishing durable timber, mostly natives of the West Indies. -- To hold by the button, to detain in conversation to weariness; to bore; to buttonhole.

To fasten with a button or buttons; to inclose or make secure with buttons; -- often followed by up. He was a tall, fat, long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a tight green coat. Dickens.

To dress or clothe. [Obs.] Shak.

To be fastened by a button or buttons; as, the coat will not button.