3. A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.
Earlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face.
W. Irving.
Lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year.
Addison.
4. A contorted expression, as of the face. [R.]
'Gainst nature armed by gravity,
His features too in buckle see.
Churchill.
Buckle
(Buc"kle) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buckled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Buckling.] [OE. boclen, F. boucler.
See Buckle, n.]
1. To fasten or confine with a buckle or buckles; as, to buckle a harness.
2. To bend; to cause to kink, or to become distorted.
3. To prepare for action; to apply with vigor and earnestness; — generally used reflexively.
Cartwright buckled himself to the employment.
Fuller.
4. To join in marriage. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.
Buckle
(Buc"kle) v. i.
1. To bend permanently; to become distorted; to bow; to curl; to kink.
Buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment.
Pepys.
2. To bend out of a true vertical plane, as a wall.
3. To yield; to give way; to cease opposing. [Obs.]
The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle.
Pepys.
4. To enter upon some labor or contest; to join in close fight; to struggle; to contend.
The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he was with him.
Latimer.
In single combat thou shalt buckle with me.
Shak.
To buckle to, to bend to; to engage with zeal.
To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto.
Barrow.
Before buckling to my winter's work.
J. D. Forbes.
Buckler
(Buc"kler) n. [OE. bocler, OF. bocler, F. bouclier, a shield with a boss, from OF. bocle, boucle,
boss. See Buckle, n.]
1. A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, worn on one of the arms (usually the left) for protecting
the front of the body.
In the sword and buckler play of the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used, not
to cover the body, but to stop or parry blows.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the large, bony, external plates found on many ganoid fishes. (b) The anterior
segment of the shell of trilobites.
