different between clamp vs button

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klæmp/
• Rhymes: -æmp

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klamp? (“clamp, clasp, cramp”). Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp (“clamp”), Alemannic German Chlempi.

Noun

clamp (plural clamps)

1. A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things together.
2. (medicine) An instrument used to temporarily shut off blood vessels, etc.
3. (Britain) A parking enforcement device used to immobilise a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
4. A mass of bricks heaped up to be burned; or of ore for roasting, or of coal coking.
5. A pile of agricultural produce such as root vegetables or silage stored under a layer of earth or an airtight sheet.
6. A piece of wood (batten) across the grain of a board end to keep it flat, as in a breadboard.
7. (electronics) An electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined value by shifting its DC value.

Derived terms

• clover clamp
• nipple clamp
• sliding clamp

Translations

References

Storage clamp on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Clamper (electronics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

clamp (third-person singular simple present clamps, present participle clamping, simple past and past participle clamped)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion. The great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge, and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood dripping mouth, clamped together like those of a wild beast.

2. (transitive) To hold or grip tightly.
3. (transitive) To modify (a numeric value) so it lies within a specific range.
   • 2016, Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo, Jack Hoxley, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 (page 253)

     After the depth range is clamped, the depth value is read from the depth stencil buffer, and the two values are compared with a selectable depth-comparison function […]

4. (Britain, obsolete, transitive) To cover (vegetables, etc.) with earth.

Derived terms

• clamp down
• unclamp

Translations

See also

• clasp
• vise, vice

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Noun

clamp (plural clamps)

1. (dated) A heavy footstep; a tramp.

Verb

clamp (third-person singular simple present clamps, present participle clamping, simple past and past participle clamped)

1. (intransitive, dated) To tread heavily or clumsily; to clump or clomp.

   • the policeman with clamping feet

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