Buttered Bun, subs. (old).—A mistress; also a prostitute, especially
one who submits to the sexual embrace in quick succession with
different men. [In this latter sense, if not in former, from buttered =
greased + bun (q.v.), the female pudenda.] For synonyms, see
Barrack-hack.
1679. Cullen, W., Flock of Court Misses, in Roxburgh Ballads
(1884), V., 126. This is the day ... that sets our Monarch free
From Buttered Buns [i.e., Louise de Quérouaille] and Slavery.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. One lying with a woman that has just
lain with another man, is said to have a buttered bun.
Butter-Fingered, comp. ppl. adj. (common).—Apt to let things fall;
greasy or slippery-fingered. The nickname of butter-fingers is hence
given to those who let things slip easily from their grasp.
1615. Markham, English Housewife, II., ii. (1668), 51. She must not
be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted; for the first
will let everything fall, etc.
1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 141. He was a slovenly
player, and went among the cricket lovers by the sobriquet of
butter-fingers.
1861. G. Meredith, Evan Harrington. The long-hit-off, he who never
was known to miss a catch—butter-fingered beast!—he has let the
ball slip through his fingers.
1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xiv. ‘I never allow no
butter-fingered girls in this room, except to sweep or scrub, under
my own eye. There’s not many ornaments, but what there is is
precious, and the apple of master’s eye.’
Butter-Flap, subs. (rhyming slang).—A trap—i.e., a light cart.
Butterfly, subs. (nautical).—1. A river barge.
2. (cabmen’s.)—The guard for the reins affixed to the top of a hansom
cab.
1883. Standard, March 6, p. 6, col. 3. The box covered the whole
roof of the cab, preventing him [the cabman] from seeing the
butterfly. [M.]
Butternuts, subs. (American.)—The sympathisers with the South in the
North and the Middle States during the American Civil War; the term was
derived from the colour of the uniforms worn in the early part of the
war by Confederate soldiers in the West, which, being homespun, were
dyed brown with the juice of the butternut (Juglans cinerea).
Butter-Print, subs. (old).—A child; usually one that is illegitimate.
Cf., Buttercup.
1620. Fletcher, Chances, I., v. You will be wiser one day, when you
have purchased A bevy of these butter-prints. [M.]
1639. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money, V., iv. I hope she
has brought me no butter-print along with her to lay to my charge.
[M.]
1709. Brit. Apollo, II., No. 46, p. 3, col. 2. Her Girl and her
Boy, For Patterns employ, To make little Butter-Prints by. [M.]
Buttock, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see
Barrack-hack, and Cf., File.
1674. R. Head, Canting Academy, 105. The Bawds and the Buttocks
that lived there round.
1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, I., wks. (1720) IV., 17. What
ogling there will be between thee and the Blowings!... Every
buttock shall fall down before thee.
1690. B. E., Dictionary of the Canting Crew. Buttock and file, both
whore and pickpocket.
Buttock and File, subs. phr. (old).—A prostitute and her companion;
sometimes bulk and file. Occasionally, too, buttock and file is used of
a single individual—one who unites the roles of a thief and prostitute.
[From buttock (q.v.), a whore, + file (q.v.), a pickpocket.]
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Bulk
and File the Pickpocket and his mate.
1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. I., ch. v. The same capacity
which qualifies a mill-ben, a bridle-cull, or a buttock and file to
arrive at any degree of eminence in his profession would likewise
raise a man in what the world esteem a more honourable calling.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Buttock and file, a common whore and a
pickpocket.
Buttock and Tongue, subs. (old).—A scolding woman; a shrew.
Buttock and Twang, subs. (old).—A common prostitute, but who refrains
from theft. Cf., Buttock and file.
Buttock Ball, subs. (old).—1. A dance attended by prostitutes. Cf.,
Ballum rancum and Buff ball.
1687. T. Brown, Lib., Consc., in Dk. Buckingham’s Wks. (1705), II.,
131. Why not into a Bibbing-house, as well as a Dancing School, a
buttoc-ball, or the like.
2. (old.)—The sexual embrace; cohabitation. Cf., Bawdy banquet and
Buttock banquetting.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Buttock-ball, the amorous congress.
Buttock Banquetting, subs. (old).—Harlotry.
1555. Fardle Facions, II., viii., 167. Whiche [wiues] maie
neuerthelesse vse buttocke banquetyng abrode.
Buttock-Broker, subs. (old).—A procuress; a bawd; an abbess (q.v.).
Buttocking Shop, subs. (old).—A brothel; a house of ill fame used by
the lowest class of public women.
Button, subs. (old).—1. A shilling. Formerly this applied to good
currency; it now only signifies counterfeit coin. For synonyms, see
Below.
2. A decoy of any kind, whether the confederate of confidence trick
men, or a sham buyer at an auction. Frequently called a buttoner
(q.v.). Cf., Bunco-steerer. Fr. un allumé.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 358.
They [cheap Jacks] have a man, or more generally a boy ... at a
fair, to hank, or act as a button (a decoy), to purchase the first
lot of goods put up. Ibid, III., p. 121. Then he (the
thimble-rigger) turns round to the crowd, and pretends to be
pushing them back, and whilst he is saying, ‘Come gentlemen, stand
more backwarder,’ one of the confederates, who is called a
‘button,’ lifts up one of the thimbles with a pea under it, and
laughs to those around, as much as to say, ‘We’ve found it out.’
1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, ix. The button, that is the
confederate who egged on the flats.
Verb.—To decoy; to act as confederate in swindles. Fr. aguicher.
Not to care a button—brass button, etc., phr. (common).—A very old
colloquialism indicative of small value. It has been in continuous use
from the beginning of the fourteenth century down to the present time.
Americans say ‘not worth a cent or a red cent,’ while among variants in
common use in England may be mentioned ‘not to care a fig—a pin—or a
sou.’
Button Burster or Button Buster, subs. (theatrical).—A low comedian.
[The derivation is sufficiently obvious, that is, one who causes his
auditors to laugh so that by a figure of speech their buttons are
regarded as bursting off their clothes.]