/ · 1894 Brewer’s · B · Button-hole
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
To button-hole a person. To bore one with conversation. The French have the same locution: Serrer le bouton [à quel quʹun].
“He went about button-holing and boring everyone.”—H. Kingsley: Mathilde.
To take one down a button-hole. To take one down a peg; to lower one’s conceit.
“Better mind yerselves, or Iʹll take ye down a button-hole lower.”—Mrs. B. Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, iv.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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