(carpentry) A kind ofhinge used in hanging doors, etc., so named because it is attached to the inside edge of the door and butts against the casing, instead of on itsface, like the strap hinge; also calledbutt hinge.
(shipbuilding) The joint where twoplanks in astrake meet.
I put out my hand and felt the meat-chopper hanging to the wall. In a flash I was after him. [...] With one last touch of humanity I turned the blade back and struck him with thebutt.
1865, Arthur Kavanagh,The Cruise of the R.Y.S. Eva, page62:
[…] when the sun gets round to thebutt of the wind, the change, if any is coming, is then to be expected.
2013 April 16, G. W. Maunsell,The Fisherman's Vade Mecum - A Compendium of Precepts, Counsel, Knowledge and Experience in Most Matters Pertaining to Fishing for Trout, Sea Trout, S, Read Books Ltd,→ISBN:
[…]'thebutt' of the wind, the wind will increase or continue. When the sky is light and clear in'thebutt' of the wind, the wind will die away. A strong wind which changes round with the sun E to S to W (clockwise) will die away, and[…]
1786, Francis Grose,A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page37:
The inhabitants of all cities and towns were ordered to makebutts, and to keep them in repair, under a penalty of twenty shillings per month, and to exercise themselves in shooting at them on holidays.
1697,Virgil, “The Second Book of theGeorgics”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC:
The groom his fellow groom atbutts defies, / And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes.
(usually as "butt of (a) joke") A person at whomridicule,jest, orcontempt is directed.
I played a sentence or two at mybutt, which I thought very smart.
The spelling has been modernized.
1876, Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb,Annals of Tacitus., translation of original by Cornelius Tacitus, page300:
The man was one of the most conspicuously infamous sights in the imperial court, bred, as he had been, in a shoemaker's shop, of a deformed person and vulgar wit, originally introduced as abutt.
Thehut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice.
And Barnsdale there dothbutt on Don's well-watered ground.
1878 November 8, C. Todd, “Observations at the Adelaide Observatory”, inMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume39, number 1, page18:
In the sketch (which is taken about 75 Jovian days after that of the 2nd July) there is shown a dark copper-coloured streak along the southern margin of the south brown belt,butting on to a bluff-headed streak of cumulus cloud which may be the same remarkable bluff head noticed on July 2.
Additionally, kids are pinched, fondled, propositioned, and hit; and it all goes unseen amid the general confusion and nonspecific orders from the cafeteria supervisors who are yelling things like, "Keep it down, you people!" "Nobutting!" "Wait your turn, boys!" All of which sound as though there is law and order, just no actual justice to the victim.
A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; ahead butt.
Be careful in the pen, that ram can knock you down with abutt.
The handcuffed suspect gave the officer a desperatebutt in the chest.
1907,Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson,Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published1980, page167:
Its noise attracted its outside mate, and the child gloried in its buzzingbutts to get in.
A thrust in fencing.
1718,Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, inPoems on Several Occasions, London:[…]Jacob Tonson[…], and John Barber[…],→OCLC:
To prove who gave the fairerbutt, / John shows the chalk on Robert's coat.
1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers,A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, page205:
Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, abutt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. –
A woodencask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.
Originally apparently a less-desired cut, named either due to its often being packed inbutts(“casks”) for storage and shipping, or from the use ofbutt to refer to "the larger or thicker end of something, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end" or "the waste end".
1926, E. C. Johnson, Edward James Wilford, Ernest Newton Fergus, George Roberts, Henry Ernest Curtis, John B. Hutson, Oscar Bernard Jesness, William Durrett Nicholls,Man Labor, Horse Work and Materials Used in Producing Crops in Christian County, page365:
Cut the foot off one inch above the joint, as this makes a much neater looking shoulder. The top third of the shoulder that was removed from the “California ham” is known as the shoulderbutt. This piece is divided into leanbutt ("Boston Butt") and fatbutt ("Clear Plate")[…] The leanbutt makes an excellent roast.
2003, Harry Jordan,Meat Harry: A Meat Lover's Guide to Buying and Preparing Beef, Pork, and Poultry, GeneralStore PublishingHouse,→ISBN, page114:
Alternative choices for the shoulderbutt oven roast: if you are buying thebutt of pork then you must enjoy the flavour that you get only with the fattiet cuts of meat; consequently I suggest the boneless pork loin rib end. Apart from thebutt, this wonderful piece of pork has the most fat[…]
2019 July 22, Chris Grove,The Offset Smoker Cookbook: Pitmaster Techniques and Mouthwatering Recipes for Authentic, Low-and-Slow BBQ, Simon and Schuster,→ISBN, page85:
Wrap the porkbutt. Work quickly and purposefully to minimize the time the porkbutt is out of the smoker. Place the porkbutt in the center of a single 18 x 36-inch piece of foil.
2025, Eleri Griffiths,Woman goes viral after delivery photo catches her in just a towel (BBC News)[3]
"He looks up, laughs as he sees the way I'm looking - soaking wet and in a towel - takes a full-blown picture, and just walks off. "I'm like, 'cheersbutt'," she added.
Patricia T. O'Conner;Stewart Kellerman quoting Steve Hartman Keiser (27 December 2021), “Cut, butt, skip, or ditch in line?”, inGrammarphobia[5], archived fromthe original on21 May 2023: “He says "budding" (or "butting") "appears to have a wider general distribution than budging" and "can be found in eastern Canada, upstate New York (where budging is also attested), Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Ohio."”
