different between buttonhole vs approach

English

Etymology

Originally buttonhold (“a loop of string to hold a button down”), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole; see the Wikipedia article on folk etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

buttonhole (plural buttonholes)

1. A hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one.
2. (chiefly Britain) A flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration.

   Synonym: boutonniere

3. (medicine) A small slot-like cut or incision, made for example by an accident with the scalpel.
   • 2011, George L. Spaeth, Helen Danesh-Meyer, Ivan Goldberg, Ophthalmic Surgery: Principles and Practice E-Book (page 220)

     The usual cause of conjunctival buttonholes is penetration of the tissue by the tip of a sharp instrument […]

Translations

Verb

buttonhole (third-person singular simple present buttonholes, present participle buttonholing, simple past and past participle buttonholed)

1. To detain (a person) in conversation against their will.

   Synonyms: accost, waylay

   • 1880, Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, Chapter 26,^[1]

     He backed Mr. Lykins against an iron fence, buttonholed him, fastened him with his eye, like the Ancient Mariner, and proceeded to unfold his narrative as placidly and peacefully as if we were all stretched comfortably in a blossomy summer meadow instead of being persecuted by a wintry midnight tempest:

   • 1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York: Macmillan, Part 5, Chapter 50, p. 890,^[2]

     He buttonholed people on the street and related details of his child’s miraculous progress without even prefacing his remarks with the hypocritical but polite: “I know everyone thinks their own child is smart but—”

Derived terms

• buttonholer

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p???t??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??p?o?t??/
• Rhymes: -??t?
• Hyphenation: ap?proach

Etymology 1

From Middle English approchen, aprochen (“to come or go near, approach; to adjoin, be close by; to enter (someone’s) presence; to be or become involved; to reach (a certain state); to arrive; to befall, happen to; to become similar to, resemble; to be a match for (someone)”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French approchier, aprochier (“to approach”) (modern French approcher), from Late Latin appropi?re, adpropi?re, respectively the present active infinitives of appropi? and adpropi? (“to approach, come near to”), from Latin ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + propi? (“to draw near”) (from prope (“near, nearby”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (a variant of *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-k?e (“suffix forming distributives from interrogatives”)).

Verb

approach (third-person singular simple present approaches, present participle approaching, simple past and past participle approached)

1. (intransitive) To come or go near, in place or time; to advance nearer; to draw nigh.
2. (intransitive, golf, tennis) To play an approach shot.
3. (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) Used intransitively, followed by to: to draw near (to someone or something); to make advances; to approximate or become almost equal.
4. (transitive, rarely intransitive) Of an immovable object or a number of such objects: to be positioned as to (notionally) appear to be moving towards (a place).
5. (transitive, also figuratively) To come near to (someone or something) in place, time, character, or value; to draw nearer to.
6. (transitive) To bring (something) near something else; to cause (something) to draw near.
7. (transitive) To attempt to make (a policy) or solve (a problem).
8. (transitive) To bring up or propose to (someone) an idea, question, request, etc.
9. (transitive, archaic, euphemistic) To have sexual intercourse with (someone).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate
10. (transitive, military) To take approaches to (a place); to move towards (a place) by using covered roads, trenches, or other works.

Usage notes

Regarding the use of sense 5 (“to come near to (someone or something) in place, time, character, or value”) in discussing convergence in mathematical analysis, modern rigorous formulations avoid using the words approach and converge. However, the terms are used informally when rigour is not required.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English approche (“approach, arrival”), from approchen, aprochen (“to come or go near, approach; to adjoin, be close by; to enter (someone’s) presence; to be or become involved; to reach (a certain state); to arrive; to befall, happen to; to become similar to, resemble; to be a match for (someone)”); see etymology 1.

Noun

approach (plural approaches)

1. (also figuratively) An act of drawing near in place or time; an advancing or coming near.
2. An act of coming near in character or value; an approximation.
3. (also figuratively) An avenue, passage, or way by which a building or place can be approached; an access.
   1. (climbing) A path taken to reach the climbing area, for example, from a car park, road, etc.
4. (figuratively) A manner of making (a policy) or solving (a problem, etc.).
5. (archaic) An opportunity of drawing near; access.
6. (aviation, also attributively) The way an aircraft comes in to land at an airport.
7. (bowling) The area before the lane in which a bowler may stand or run up before bowling the ball.
8. (golf, tennis) Short for approach shot.

Hyponyms

(aviation):

• instrument approach
• nonprecision approach
• precision approach
• visual approach

Derived terms

• approach shoe

Translations

References

Further reading

• approach (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• approach in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Portuguese

Noun

approach m (plural approaches)

1. approach (a manner in which a problem is solved or policy is made)

   Synonym: abordagem