buttonhole

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a slit in a garment through which a button passes to fasten it

   Cecily slipped the rose's stem through Algernon's buttonhole.

2. 2
   noun

   chiefly British, a flower or small spray of flowers worn through a lapel buttonhole

   Algernon asked for a buttonhole before lunch, so Cecily cut him a pink rose.

3. 3
   verb

   to stop someone and detain them in conversation, often in order to press a request or opinion

   A critic buttonholed the actor in the theatre lobby after the performance.

Common collocations

• buttonhole stitch Noun + noun

Originally an alteration of buttonhold, a loop or fastening that held a button, reshaped under the influence of hole and now understood as button + hole. The flower sense came from wearing a bloom through a lapel buttonhole; the verb arose from grasping someone by a coat buttonhole to keep them talking.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images