- the thick end of a weapon or tool
- a rifle butt
- the part of a cigarette or cigar that is left after it has been smoked
- an ashtray full of cigarette butts
- (British English) a large round container for storing or collecting liquids
- a water butt
- (especially North American English, informal) the part of the body that you sit on synonym buttocks
- Get off your butt and do some work!
- Get your butt over here! (= Come here!)
- the act of hitting somebody with your head
- a butt from his head
Word Originnoun sense 5 Middle English: from Old French boter, of Germanic origin. to be the butt of something. Middle English (originally referring to an archery target or range): from Old French but, of unknown origin; perhaps influenced by French butte ‘rising ground’. noun senses 1 to 2 and noun sense 4 late Middle English: apparently related to Dutch bot ‘stumpy’, also to buttock. noun sense 3 late Middle English: from Old French bot, from late Latin buttis.
Idioms
See butt in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybe the butt of something
- to be the person or thing that other people often joke about or criticize synonym target
- She was the butt of some very unkind jokes.
bust your butt/chops/hump (doing something/to do something) (North American English, informal)
(also bust a gut British and North American English, informal, bust your ass North American English, offensive, slang)
- to make a great effort to do something
- These guys were busting their butts on the field, trying to excel at athletics.
- I busted my chops to get into law school.
- It’s a problem which nobody is going to bust a gut trying to solve.
a pain in the butt/ass (North American English also)
(British English also a pain in the arse/backside)
(also a pain in the neck)
- (informal) a person or thing that is very annoying
- That man's a pain in the butt!
Check pronunciation:
butt