Nobody answered the door when I knocked, so I had no choicebut to leave.
2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1-0 Chelsea”, inBBC Sport:
Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little optionbut to point to the spot.
In those days, when my hands were much employed, I readbut little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.
In reality, I apprehend every amorous widow on the stage would run the hazard of being condemned as a servile imitation of Dido,but that happily very few of our play-house critics understand enough of Latin to read Virgil.
Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys,but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema.But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
Except that (introducing a subordinate clause which qualifies a negative statement); also, with omission of the subject of the subordinate clause, acting as a negative relative, "except one that", "except such that".
In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little,but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.
(colloquial)Used to link an interjection to the following remark as an intensifier.
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade / Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made / People passing by, they would stop and say / "Oh, my,but that little country boy could play"
Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet? / Ooh,but they're so spaced out / B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets / Oh,but they're weird and they're wonderful / Oh, Bennie, she's really keen
1639,Thomas Fuller, “Unseasonable Discords betwixt King Baldwine and His Mother; Her Strength in Yeelding to Her Sonne”, inThe Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:[…] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to theUniversitie of Cambridge[and sold by John Williams, London],→OCLC, book II,page84:
This man unable to manage his own happineſſe, grew ſo inſolent that he could not go,but either ſpurning his equals, or trampling on his inferiours.
“I am convinced, if you were to press this matter earnestly upon her, she would consent.” “It is not impossiblebut she might,” said Madame de Seidlits[…].
1813 July,Journal of Natural Philosophy:
It is not improbablebut future observations will add Pliny's Well to the class of irregular reciprocators.
It is generally considered colloquial to usebut at the beginning of a sentence, with other conjunctions such ashowever ornevertheless being preferred in formal writing.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
But—and this is a bigbut—you have to come home by sundown.
1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, inThe Pathfinder, volume29, number1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company,page33:
The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts,buts and nots.
2016 December 28, Concepcion de Leon, “5 Things Well-Meaning People Say to Me That Are Actually Really Offensive”, inGlamour[2], Greenwich, C.T.,[…]:Condé Nast Publications,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on2023-02-08:
"I support you/understand where you're coming from, but..." ¶ No. No "buts" when it comes to other people's survival.
1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.
Cognate withOld Englishbutt(“tree stump”); seebutt. The semantic development from "mound" to "target" is likely frommartial training practice. The final/t/ is from the old pausal and liaison pronunciation; its (partial) restoration as the basic form may have been reinforced by relatedbutte.
shoe(protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of leather or synthetic material)
Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “but”, inSłownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
“BUT”, inElektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century],28.04.2010
Jan Karłowicz (1900) “but”, inSłownik gwar polskich [Dictionary of Polish dialects] (in Polish), volume1: A do E, Kraków: Akademia Umiejętności, page143
Kazimierz Nitsch (1907) “but”, in “Dyalekty polskie Prus zachodnich”, inMateryały i Prace Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie (in Polish), volume 3, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page387
↑1.01.11.21.31.4Boretzky, Norbert, Igla, Birgit (1994) “but”, inWörterbuch Romani-Deutsch-Englisch für den südosteuropäischen Raum : mit einer Grammatik der Dialektvarianten [Romani-German-English dictionary for the Southern European region] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,→ISBN, page39b
↑3.03.1Marcel Courthiade (2009) “but B-ćham: -e I”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor,Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher,→ISBN, page97a
↑4.04.1Yūsuke Sumi (2018) “but”, inニューエクスプレスプラス ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Plus Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, published2021,→ISBN,→OCLC, page147
^Marcel Courthiade (2009) “but II”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor,Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher,→ISBN, page97a
