From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot. PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn
I walked around, picking butts from the street.1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:
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A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field.
c. 1850-1860, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A New Law Dictionary and Glossary The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields.
The end of a firearm opposite to that from which a bullet is fired.
She was hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun.
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Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lacrosse, Lifestyle, Sports The plastic or rubber cap used to cover the open end of a lacrosse stick's shaft in order to reduce injury.
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The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose.
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The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib.
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Engineering, Mechanical, Mechanical engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering.
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Business, Carpentry, Construction, Manufacturing A kind of hinge 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 its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge.
The blunt back part of an axehead or large blade. Also called the poll.
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 the butt.1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 231:
[…] when the sun gets round to the butt of the wind, the change, if any is coming, is then to be expected.1865, Arthur Kavanagh, The Cruise of the R.Y.S. Eva, page 62:
[…] 'the butt' of the wind, the wind will increase or continue. When the sky is light and clear in 'the butt' 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[…]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:
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A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt / And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], line 267:
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A mark to be shot at; a target.
archery butt
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt[…]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 186:
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The inhabitants of all cities and towns were ordered to make butts, and to keep them in repair, under a penalty of twenty shillings per month, and to exercise themselves in shooting at them on holidays.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 37:
The groom his fellow groom at butts defies, / And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes.1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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Usually, As "butt of (a) joke" A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed.
He's usually the butt of their jokes.
I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart.1711 September 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, September 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 175; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
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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 a butt.1876, Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, Annals of Tacitus., translation of original by Cornelius Tacitus, page 300:
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The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice.
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Dialectal The entire ground (range) on which archers' target practice takes place.
From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot. PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn
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To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground.1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:
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 2.1878 November 8, C. Todd, “Observations at the Adelaide Observatory”, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume 39, number 1, page 18:
Etymology From Middle English butten, from Anglo-Norman buter, boter (“to push, butt, strike”), from Frankish *bautan (“to hit, beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat, push”). Cognate with Old English bēatan (“to beat”). More at beat.
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To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.
Two harmless lambs are butting one the other.1651, Henry Wotton, A Description of the Country's Recreations:
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To strike bluntly with the head.
Rams butt at other males during mating season.
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Canada, Eastern To cut in line (in front of someone).
Parts of the northeastern US
Teacher! He just butted me!
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!" "No butting!" "Wait your turn, boys!" All of which sound as though there is law and order, just no actual justice to the victim.2016, Chandler, Dan, Bullying in Plain Sight: How Inattentive Adults Encourage the School Bullies, Mustang, O.K.: Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, →ISBN, page 45:
Etymology From Middle English butten, from Anglo-Norman buter, boter (“to push, butt, strike”), from Frankish *bautan (“to hit, beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat, push”). Cognate with Old English bēatan (“to beat”). More at beat.
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A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.
Be careful in the pen, that ram can knock you down with a butt.
The handcuffed suspect gave the officer a desperate butt in the chest.
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Its noise attracted its outside mate, and the child gloried in its buzzing butts to get in.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 167:
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A thrust in fencing.
To prove who gave the fairer butt, / John shows the chalk on Robert's coat.1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:
butt
noun
Etymology From late Middle English bote, but, butte (“wine cask”), of disputed origin. Probably (1) from Anglo-Norman but, from Old French bot (“barrel, wine-skin”), Late Latin buttis (“cask”); (2) alternatively, a later form of Middle English bitte, bit, butte (“leather bottle”), from Old English bytt, byt, from Proto-West Germanic *buttjā, from Vulgar Latin *buttia and thus a doublet of boccia.
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An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun.
Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt 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. –1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, page 205:
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A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.
[…]I escap'd upon a butt of sack which the sailors heav'd o'erboard[…]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 121:
Etymology From Middle English but, butte, botte (“flounder; plaice; turbot”), possibly derived from sense 1 (“blunt end”), meaning "blunt-headed fish." Compare Dutch bot and the second element of English halibut. Cognate with West Frisian bot, German Low German Butt, German Butt, Butte, Swedish butta.
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Northern England Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot.
Etymology Originally apparently a less-desired cut, named either due to its often being packed in butts (“casks”) for storage and shipping, or from the use of butt to refer to "the larger or thicker end of something, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end" or "the waste end".
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The shoulder of an animal, especially the portion above the picnic, as a cut of meat.
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 shoulder butt. This piece is divided into lean butt ("Boston Butt") and fat butt ("Clear Plate") […] The lean butt makes an excellent roast.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, page 365:
Alternative choices for the shoulder butt oven roast: if you are buying the butt 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 the butt, this wonderful piece of pork has the most fat […]2003, Harry Jordan, Meat Harry: A Meat Lover's Guide to Buying and Preparing Beef, Pork, and Poultry, GeneralStore PublishingHouse, →ISBN, page 114:
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Wrap the pork butt. Work quickly and purposefully to minimize the time the pork butt is out of the smoker. Place the pork butt in the center of a single 18 x 36-inch piece of foil.2019 July 22, Chris Grove, The Offset Smoker Cookbook: Pitmaster Techniques and Mouthwatering Recipes for Authentic, Low-and-Slow BBQ, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 85:
2025, Eleri Griffiths, Woman goes viral after delivery photo catches her in just a towel (BBC News) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2p0n73zmro "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, 'cheers butt'," she added.