Chapter Buttons to By-lane of B by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Buttons to By-lane

Buttons
(But"tons) n. A boy servant, or page, — in allusion to the buttons on his livery. [Colloq.] Dickens.

Buttonweed
(But"ton*weed`) n. (Bot.) The name of several plants of the genera Spermacoce and Diodia, of the Madder family.

Buttonwood
(But"ton*wood`) n. (Bot.) The Platanus occidentalis, or American plane tree, a large tree, producing rough balls, from which it is named; — called also buttonball tree, and, in some parts of the United States, sycamore. The California buttonwood is P. racemosa.

Buttony
(But"ton*y) a. Ornamented with a large number of buttons. "The buttony boy." Thackeray. "My coat so blue and buttony." W. S. Gilbert.

Buttress
(But"tress) n. [OE. butrasse, boterace, fr. F. bouter to push; cf. OF. bouteret (nom. sing. and acc. pl. bouterez) buttress. See Butt an end, and cf. Butteris.]

1. (Arch.) A projecting mass of masonry, used for resisting the thrust of an arch, or for ornament and symmetry.

When an external projection is used merely to stiffen a wall, it is a pier.

2. Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South.

Flying buttress. See Flying buttress.

Buttress
(But"tress) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buttressed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Buttressing.] To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.

To set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for duration.
Burke.

Butt shaft
(Butt" shaft`) An arrow without a barb, for shooting at butts; an arrow. [Also but shaft.] Shak.

Butt weld
(Butt" weld`) See Butt weld, under Butt.

Buttweld
(Butt"weld`), v. t. To unite by a butt weld.

Butty
(But"ty) n. (Mining) One who mines by contract, at so much per ton of coal or ore.

Butyl
(Bu"tyl) n. [L. butyrum butter + -yl. See Butter.] (Chem.) A compound radical, regarded as butane, less one atom of hydrogen.

Butylene
(Bu"ty*lene) n. [From Butyl.] (Chem.) Any one of three metameric hydrocarbons, C₄H₈, of the ethylene series. They are gaseous or easily liquefiable.

Butyraceous
(Bu`ty*ra"ceous) a. [L. butyrum butter. See Butter.] Having the qualities of butter; resembling butter.

Butyrate
(Bu"ty*rate) n. (Chem.) A salt of butyric acid.

Butyric
(Bu*tyr"ic) a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, butter.

Butyric acid, C₃H₇.CO₂H, an acid found in butter; an oily, limpid fluid, having the smell of rancid butter, and an acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste, like that of ether. There are two metameric butyric acids, called in distinction the normal- and iso- butyric acid. The normal butyric acid is the one common in rancid butter.