What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between buttonhole and button?

buttonhole | button |

As nouns the difference between buttonhole and button

is that buttonhole is a hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one while button is a knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.

As verbs the difference between buttonhole and button

is that buttonhole is to detain (a person) in conversation against their will while button is to fasten with a button.

buttonhole

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one.
  • (chiefly, British) a flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration

    • Synonyms

    * (flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration): boutonniere

    Verb

    (buttonhol)
  • To detain (a person) in conversation against their will.
  • * 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 [...] — " (2004)
  • * http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004291.html

    • Synonyms

    * : accost, waylay

    Derived terms

    * buttonholer

    button

    English

    (wikipedia button)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.}}
  • A mechanical device meant to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism.
  • (graphical user interface) An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function.
  • (US) A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.
  • (botany) A bud.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • (slang) The clitoris.
  • (curling) The center (bullseye) of the house.
  • (fencing) The soft circular tip at the end of a foil.
  • (poker) A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button .
  • (poker) The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button.
  • A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement marking painted stripe.
  • (South Africa, slang) A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug).
  • A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door.
  • A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
  • A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
  • A small white blotch on a cat's coat.
  • A unit of length equal to 1/12 of an inch.

    • Usage notes

    For the senses 2 and 3, a button is often marked by a verb rather than a noun, and the button itself is called with the verb and button''. For example, a button to start something is generally called ''start button .

    Derived terms

    {{der3, bachelor's button , belly button , billy buttons , , button accordion , buttonhole , buttonhook , buttonlike , buttonless , button man , button mangrove , button mushroom , button nose , buttonology , button-punch , button-pusher , buttonquail , buttonwood , cute as a button , eject button , fire button , have one's finger on the button , hot button , on the button , panic button , power button , push someone's buttons , radio button , red button , snooze button , start button , stay-button , tummy button}}

    See also

    * switch * toggle * trigger

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fasten with a button.
  • * Charles Dickens
  • To be fastened by a button or buttons.

    • Derived terms

    * button one's lip * button up * unbutton