butt English · revision 6824

+ English has several words spelled butt: the verb to strike with the head, the target, the cask, and the thick end.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʌt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|strike with the head}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=frk}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is Middle English butten, [[bor|xno|buter]], [[m|fro|boter|t=to thrust]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) of Germanic origin, from [[frk|-]]: compare [[goh|bōzan|t=to beat]] (see [[beat]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To strike or thrust: probably about 1200, in the ''Ormulum'', in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) the 12th century in Hoad.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its use came to centre on striking with the head or horns.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) The noun, a push with the head, is from 1647,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''full butt'', head-on, follows from it.^(SOED 2002) ''Butt in'', to meddle, is American slang from 1900, in George Ade's ''Fables in Slang'',^(Barnhart 1988) and ''butt out'' is later slang.^(SOED 2002) A second verb, to abut or join end to end, is partly from the noun butt and partly short for [[abut]].^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – to strike or thrust.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1647 – a push with the head.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1900 – ''butt in''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To hit or push with the head or [[horn|alt=horns]]; to [[ram]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To join or be joined end to end; to [[abut]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''butt in'': to [[interfere]] or interrupt.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A push or blow with the head or horns.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ {{homograph|2|target}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1345}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The target is Middle English but, [[bor|fro|but|t=aim, goal, target]], probably merged with Old French bout, bot, end, both of Germanic origin;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Hoad and SOED call the French word of unknown origin, perhaps influenced by French [[m|fr|butte|t=mound, target]].^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A mark or mound for target practice: 1345–46 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A goal or object was a 16th-century sense.^(Hoad 1986) The target of ridicule or jokes is from the 1610s.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) In the plural, ''the butts'' are a range for shooting practice, and in grouse shooting a butt is a concealed stand.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1345 – a target for archery.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 16th century – a goal (obsolete).^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 1610s – an object of ridicule.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person or thing that is the target of jokes or [[ridicule]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A target for [[archery]] or shooting, or the mound behind it; in plural, a shooting range.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ {{homograph|3|cask}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1385|origins=la-lat buttis}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The cask is [[bor|xno|but]], [[m|fro|bot|t=barrel, wineskin]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la-lat|buttis|t=cask]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) perhaps of Greek origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[bottle]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A cask for wine or ale: 1385 as bote and 1393 as butt in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A butt usually held 108 to 140 gallons, about two hogsheads, and was once a legal measure, though it varied greatly.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) It came to mean any cask (1626), especially a large barrel for rainwater.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1385 – a cask for wine.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1626 – any cask or barrel.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large [[cask]] for wine, beer or water.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A former measure of liquid capacity, about two [[hogshead|alt=hogsheads]].^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scuttlebutt]]

+

+ {{homograph|4|thick end, buttocks}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1400}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The thick end is [[inh|enm|butte]], botte, probably related to [[m|ang|buttuc|t=end, small piece of land]] (see [[buttock]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) with cognates in [[dum|bot|t=blunt]] and [[non|butr|t=log]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Word Origins calls it of uncertain origin.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The thicker end of a spear: about 1400, in Lydgate's ''Troy Book'', in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) about 1400 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The buttocks is a medieval sense,^(Cresswell 2021) about 1450 in the OED,^(OED 1989) now chiefly American and informal.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) The trunk of a tree at its thickest is from 1601,^(OED 1989) and the stub of a smoked cigarette is by 1847.^(Etymonline) In American slang a butt is also a cigarette.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – the thick end of a spear.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1450 – the buttocks.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1601 – the base of a tree trunk.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1847 – a cigarette end.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The thicker or blunt end of something, such as the [[stock]] of a [[rifle]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The unused end of something, especially a [[cigarette]]; a stub.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(US, informal)'' The [[buttocks]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[butt-end]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[butt in]]

+ * [[butt out]]

+ * [[buttinsky]]

+ * [[bottle]]

+ * [[butler]]

+ * [[buttock]]

+ * [[abut]]

+ * [[beat]]

+ * [[butte]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Several further words butt are dialectal or obsolete: a flatfish, such as a sole or turbot (compare [[halibut]]);^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) a ridge of ploughed land;^(SOED 2002) a headland, surviving in the Butt of Lewis.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}