Definition of "butt"

butt¹

/bʌt/

noun
plural butts
1. (countable) The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end
  1. (Canada, US, Philippines, slang) The buttocks (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass).
    (slang) The whole buttocks and pelvic region that includes one's private parts.
    (slang, metonymically) Body; self.
  2. (leather trades) The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks.
2. (countable) The waste end of anything.
  1. (slang) A used cigarette.
    Quotations
    I walked around, picking butts from the street.
    1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, Viking Press, part 2
  2. A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field.
    Quotations
    The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields.
    c. 1850-1860, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A New Law Dictionary and Glossary
  3. (obsolete, West Country) Hassock.
  4. (US) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
3. (countable, generally) An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.
  1. The end of a firearm opposite to that from which a bullet is fired.
  2. (lacrosse) The plastic or rubber cap used to cover the open end of a lacrosse stick's shaft in order to reduce injury.
  3. The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose.
  4. The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib.
  5. (mechanical) A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering.
  6. (carpentry) 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.
  7. (shipbuilding) The joint where two planks in a strake meet.
  8. The blunt back part of an axehead or large blade. Also called the poll.
    Quotations
    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
4. (countable) A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
  Quotations
  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, [Act V, scene ii], line 267
  1. A mark to be shot at; a target.
    Quotations
    To which is fixed, as an aim or butt […]
    1599, 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, [Act I, scene ii], line 186
    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, […]
  2. (usually as "butt of (a) joke") A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed.
    Quotations
    I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart.
    1711 October 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, 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
  3. The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice.
verb
third-person singular simple present butts, present participle butting, simple past and past participle butted
1. To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
  Quotations
  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: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613

butt²

/bʌt/

verb
third-person singular simple present butts, present participle butting, simple past and past participle butted
1. (transitive) To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.
  Quotations
  Two harmless lambs are butting one the other.
  1651, Henry Wotton, A Description of the Country's Recreations
2. (intransitive) To strike bluntly with the head.
3. (transitive, eastern Canada, parts of the northeastern US) To cut in line (in front of someone).
  Quotations
  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, page 45
noun
plural butts
1. A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.
  Quotations
  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
2. A thrust in fencing.
  Quotations
  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 […]

butt³

/bʌt/

noun
plural butts
1. (English units) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun; equivalent to the pipe.
  Quotations
  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
2. A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.
  Quotations
  […] 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, [Act II, scene ii], line 121

butt⁴

/bʌt/

noun
plural butts
1. (Northern England) Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot

butt⁵

/bʌt/

noun
plural butts
1. (dated, West Country and Ireland) A heavy two-wheeled cart.
2. (dated, West Country and Ireland) A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow.

butt⁶

/bʌt/

noun
plural butts
1. The shoulder of an animal, especially the portion above the picnic, as a cut of meat.
  Quotations
  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, page 114
  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, page 85

Definition of "butt"

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