different between button vs clinch

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?b?tn?/, /?b?t?n/, [?b??n?], [?b??t?n?]
• Rhymes: -?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. More at butt.

Noun

button (plural buttons)

1. A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener. [from the mid-13th c.]

2. A mechanical device meant to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism.

3. (graphical user interface) An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function.

4. (US) A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.

5. (botany) A bud.
6. The head of an unexpanded mushroom.
7. (slang) The clitoris.
8. (curling) The center (bullseye) of the house.
9. (fencing) The soft circular tip at the end of a foil.
11. (poker) A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button.
12. (poker) The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button.
13. (archaic) A person who acts as a decoy.
14. A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement-marking painted stripe.
15. (aviation) The end of a runway.
    • 1984, Synopses of Aircraft Accidents: Civil Aircraft in Canada (page 42)

      In attempting to touch down on the button of the runway, he misjudged his altitude and struck a pile of rocks short of the runway. The right wheel was torn off and the gear leg bent backwards.

    • 1999, Les Morrison, Of Luck and War (page 69)

      The second and slightly higher aircraft on the approach showed no reaction to this barrage of pyrotechnics and continued blissfully down toward the button of the runway.

16. (South Africa, slang) A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug).
17. A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door.
18. A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
19. A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
20. A small white blotch on a cat's coat.
21. (Britain, archaic) A unit of length equal to ¹?₁₂ inch.
22. The means for initiating a nuclear strike or similar cataclysmic occurrence.
23. (lutherie) In an instrument of the violin family, the near-semicircular shape extending from the top of the back plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck.
24. (lutherie) Synonym of endbutton, part of a violin-family instrument.
25. (lutherie, bowmaking) Synonym of adjuster.
26. The least amount of care or interest; a whit or jot.
27. (comedy) The final joke at the end of a comedic act (such as a sketch, set, or scene).
28. (slang) A button man; a professional assassin.
    • 1973, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II (screenplay, second draft)

      FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch. I remember when he was just a 'button,' when we were kids.

29. The final segment of a rattlesnake's rattle.

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.

Hypernyms

• (graphical user interface): widget

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Hindi: ??? (ba?an)
• ? Gujarati: ??? (ba?an)
• ? Korean: ?? (beoteun)
• ? Maori: p?tene
• ? Urdu: ???? (ba?an)

Translations

See also

• switch
• toggle
• trigger

Etymology 2

From Middle English butonen, botonen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

button (third-person singular simple present buttons, present participle buttoning, simple past and past participle buttoned)

1. (transitive) To fasten with a button. [from the late 14th c.]

   • He was a tall, fat, long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a tight green coat.

2. (intransitive) To be fastened by a button or buttons.

3. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (informal) To stop talking.

Derived terms

• buttonable
• button-down
• buttoner
• button one's lip
• button up
• button it
• misbutton
• rebutton
• unbutton

Translations

Further reading

• button on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• not but

Middle English

Noun

button

1. Alternative form of botoun

English

Etymology

16th-century alteration of clench.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Verb

clinch (third-person singular simple present clinches, present participle clinching, simple past and past participle clinched)

1. To clasp; to interlock. [from 1560s]
2. To make certain; to finalize. [from 1716]
3. To fasten securely or permanently.
4. To bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed. [17th century]
5. To embrace passionately.
6. To hold firmly; to clench.
7. To set closely together; to close tightly.
   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Duty of Servants at Inns

     try if the heads of the nails be fast, and whether they be well clinched

Synonyms

• (fasten securely): attach, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
• (hold firmly): clasp, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp

Translations

Noun

clinch (plural clinches)

1. Any of several fastenings.
2. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip or grasp.

3. (obsolete) A pun.
4. (nautical) A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.
5. A passionate embrace.
   • 2015, Judith Arnold, Moondance

     More likely, he was letting her know that his visit this morning was not going to end in a clinch—or something steamier. It was going to be about sitting at a table, drinking coffee and talking.

6. In combat sports, the act of one or both fighters holding onto the other to prevent being hit or engage in standup grappling.

Translations

See also

• clinch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• clench
• clincher
• clinch nut