buttoned, ppl. a.
(ˈbʌt(ə)nd)
[f. button n. and v. + -ed.]
1. a. Having buttons, adorned with buttons; usually with defining words, as silver-buttoned, eight-buttoned.
| 1534 More On the Passion Wks. 1272/2 A beareward with his syluer buttened bawdrike. 1597 Sir R. Cecil in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 234 III. 43 A longe robe of black velvett, well jeweld and buttond. 1713 Guardian No. 113 (1756) II. 121 My silver-button'd coat. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 61 A custom-house officer in his brass-buttoned jacket. 1883 Truth 31 May 768/1 [Gloves] were all to be eight-buttoned. |
b. Of persons: Wearing buttons.
| 1813 Moore Post Bag vi. 64 This buttoned nation. 1882 T. Hardy Two on Tower I. xiv. 232 The buttoned boy. |
c. Of a stick or a fencing-foil: Having a ‘button’ or knob at the end.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. I. 204 No black-bearded vigil from thy doore Beats with a button'd-staffe the poore. 1838 Fraser's Mag. XVII. 307 Safe and well-buttoned foils. |
2. a. Fastened with buttons; with one's clothes fastened with buttons. Also with up.
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 298 The buttoned-up crosses. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1871) II. iv. vii. 153 National Guards rank themselves, half-buttoned. 1863 Thornbury True as Steel III. 292 With a buttoned velvet cap drawn over his ears. |
b. fig. With up, spec. of persons: reserved, uncommunicative. Cf. button v. 3.
| 1936 R. Lehmann Weather in Streets i. v. 92 Plump, buttoned-up face. 1946 M. Dickens Happy Prisoner viii. 158 Why is she so quiet and buttoned up? 1957 Economist 2 Nov. 393/1 The British are notoriously bad..at human relationships; buttoned-up, standoffish. |
c. fig. With up. Of a plan, etc.: successfully arranged. slang.
| 1940 ‘N. Shute’ Old Captivity vi. 197, I was thinking about this photography. But I believe we've got that buttoned up now. 1942 Gen 1 Sept. 12/2 When army things are under control they are ‘buttoned up’. |
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▸ buttoned-down adj. a. Fastened down with buttons. Of a shirt collar: having points which button to the shirt; (of a shirt) having such a collar; cf. button-down adj. at button v. 4. Also: (of a garment) having buttons throughout its length.
| 1920 Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram 7 Aug. 8/1 (advt.) Men's White Shirts with Buttoned Down Collars. 1937 Times 27 Sept. 19/3 The lamé..used in bows on the buttoned-down frock. 1951 Bradford (Pa.) Era 12 Sept. 14/6 (advt.) Trimly styled with smart, buttoned-down pockets. 1981 Washington Post 22 Nov. e2/2 All the gentlemen with their buttoned-down coats looking on as some great document is exchanged. 1999 D. Haslam Manchester, Eng. vi. 156 They were immaculate in fact,..in brogues or spats and buttoned-down shirts. |
b. With allusion to the supposed characteristics of those who wear shirts with buttoned-down collars. Having, designating, or characteristic of a conventional or conservative attitude; staid; repressed. Cf. sense 2b.
With quot. 1960, cf. quot. 1960 button-down adj. at button v. Additions
| 1960 Salisbury (Maryland) Times 14 Oct. 23/3 Newhart..broke out..to score a hit with his album, ‘The Buttoned-Down Mind’. 1968 Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune 19 June 1/1 Residents of Resurrection City linked arms with buttoned-down government workers..for the march. 1976 Science 22 Oct. 411/3 It evolved from a more buttoned-down trend in the German economy. 1990 Premiere July 72/3 The character..is a badlands girl of volcanic sexuality who disrupts the marriage plans of a buttoned-down preppy. 1996 Q. Troupe Avalanche ii. 95 Spin doctors..wearing earnest Straight faces, masking buttoned-down attitudes. |