▪ I. buckle, n.
(ˈbʌk(ə)l)
Forms: 4–5 bocle, -kle, bukyll(e, 4–6 bokel(l, 5 bocul(e, -cull(e, -kull, -kyll(e, bukkel, (bogyll), 6 bucle, 5– buckle.
[a. F. boucle:—L. buccula (dim. of bucca cheek), the recorded senses of which are 1. cheek-strap of a helmet, 2. boss of a shield. The precise relation of the Fr. senses (adopted in Eng.) to those of the L. word is obscure. Sense 1 is the only one found in ME.; the remaining senses appear to have been introduced from Fr. at much later periods.]
1. a. A rim of metal, with a hinged tongue carrying one or more spikes, for securing a belt, strap, or ribbon, which passes through the rim and is pierced by the spike or spikes. Often with defining word prefixed, as knee-, shoe-buckle.
| 1340 Ayenb. 236 Þet is þe bocle of þe gerdle. 1391 Test. Ebor. I. 145 Un sayntour, le bukyll et le pendant de argent. c 1450 Gloss. in Wright Voc. 122 Ad plusculas, bogyllis. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 41 Bocle or boculle [bocul K.H., bokyll or bocle 1499], pluscula. 1483 in Arnold Chron. (1811) 116 A purple corse..enameled in the bukkel with ij. ymagis. 1530 Palsgr. 200/1 Bocle that beareth the byt, portemors. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. i. 163 His stubborne Buckles..Shall more obey then to the edge of Steele. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 317 ¶22 Tongue of my Shoe-Buckle broke. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. Prol. (1883) 281 The buckle then its modest limits knew. 1855 J. W. Croker in Papers (1884) III. xxix. 329 He expected to hear next that..knee-buckles had been issued to the Highland Brigade. |
b. Phrases.
† to come to buckle and bare thong: to be stripped of everything.
† to turn the buckle of the girdle (see
quots.).
to cover the buckle: to dance (a particular step).
† to hold or bring (bare) buckle and thong together (in
U.S.,
to make buckle and tongue meet): to make both ends meet.
Obs.| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 73 He at length came to buckle and bare thong. 1600 Weakest goeth to the Wall sig E2, My benefice doth bring me in no more But what will hold bare buckle and thong together. 1603 Breton Post w. Packet (1637) (N.) If you be angry, turn the buckle of your girdle behind you. 1656 Cromwell Sp. 17 Sept., If any man be angry at it,—I am plain, and shall use an homely expression: Let him turn the buckle of his girdle behind him! If this were to be done again, I would do it. 1675 Pepys Ballads (1930) III. 12 Hold Buckle and Thong together. 1732 T. Fuller Gnomologia 100 He'll bring buckle and thong together. 1852 Reade Peg Woff. viii. 131 Woffington covered the buckle in gallant style; she danced, the children danced. 1859 Fisher's River 249 All they cared for was ‘to make buckle and tongue meet’ by raising stock..and a little corn for bread. 1888 Harper's Mag. Apr. 703/1 Beginning without money, he had as much as he could do to make ‘buckle and tongue meet’, as the phrase goes. |
† c. French buckle: a ring attached to a mare, to prevent her being covered.
Obs.| 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2707/4 A Chesnut Mare..buckled up with a French Buckle. |
d. An iron loop for fastening the blade to the frame of a wood-saw.
| 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 725 The chairmakers' saw is in general a diminutive of the ordinary pit saw, and has a central blade strained by buckles and wedges. |
e. [
app. f. buckle v. 2 c.] A vigorous struggle or conflict.
| 1845 J. Keegan Leg. & Poems (1907) 268 Master Tom and the girls running out to..welcome me home, as if I was just returning from a buckle with the Terry Alts, or a rencontre with a scalping party of Huron Indians. 1876 Coursing Cal. 6 Wheatear and The Pet had a tremendous tight buckle for the lead. Ibid. 181 Liberator and Controversy made a tight buckle for pace. |
† 2. The drop of an ear-ring. (
Fr. boucle d'oreille.)
Obs.| 1674 Lond. Gaz. No. 878/4 Lost a pair of Diamond Buckles, set Transparent in Silver, without any Gold Earrings to them. |
† 3. ‘The state of the hair crisped and curled by being kept long in the same state’ (J.)
Obs.| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 129 ¶7 The Wearer..lets his Wig lie in Buckle for a whole half Year. 1730 Fielding Tom Thumb Wks. 1775 II. 107 What's a woman when her virtue's gone! A coat without its lace; wig out of buckle. 1732 Pope Mor. Ess. iii. 296 That live-long wig..Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady i. xi. §2 (1734) 100 Hair, which, with great Difficulty, receives or retains a Buckle. 1763 Churchill Ghost iii. (R.) His features too in buckle see. 1789 Burns Laddie's dear sel', An' his hair has a natural buckle an' a. |
4. In
Architecture (see
quot.).
| 1848 Rickman Archit. xxx, A good bold corbel-table..it has been sometimes called a buckle, because some specimens resemble the tongue of a buckle. 1861 Parker Goth. Archit. 131 The corbels have the ornament called a buckle or mask. |
5. Comb., as
buckle-maker,
buckle-manufacturer,
buckle-ring,
buckle-shoe,
buckle-smith,
buckle-tongue; also
† buckle-chape, the back of a buckle, over which the ribbon or strap passes;
buckle-covering, a certain step or movement in dancing;
buckle-garter, a garter fastened by a buckle;
† buckle-hammed, ? having crooked legs (see
buckle v. III.);
† buckle-pit, a child's game;
buckle-plates: see
buckled 2;
† buckle-ring, the frame of a buckle;
buckle-wig: see
buckled 3.
| 1761 Lond. Mag. XXX. 233 Foreigners..can afford to give a much higher price for our *buckle-chapes than our buckle-makers can afford to do. |
| 1859 Dickens Haunted H. viii. 48 There ensued such..*buckle-covering, and double-shuffling. |
| 1629 Gaule Holy Madn. 324 *Buckle-hamm'd, Stump-legg'd, Splay-footed. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 42 *Bokulle makere, pluscularius. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6088/3 A Brass Buckle-maker by Trade. |
| 1791 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 54/1 Several respectable *buckle-manufacturers from Birmingham..waited upon H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. |
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. (1557) 574/2 Some suche prety playes of likelyhod as chyldren be woont to playe, as cheristone, mary bone, *bokle pit, spurne poynte. |
| 1866 Law Reports, Com. Pleas 163 The plaintiff is..the patentee of certain *buckle plates used for bridge flooring. |
| 1761 Lond. Mag. XXX. 233 The dispute between *buckle-ring-makers and buckle-chape-makers. |
| 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey liv. 309 Trim *buckle-shoes. |
| c 1500 Cocke Lorrell's B. (1843) 9 *Bokell smythes, horse leches, and gold beters. |
| 1878 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 579 Men and women in..powder and *buckle wigs. |
▪ II. buckle, v. (
ˈbʌk(ə)l)
[f. prec. n.; but cf. F. boucler; branch III may be from the F. word, which has the sense ‘to bulge’ (as a wall).] I. With reference to
buckle n. 1.
1. a. trans. To fasten with a buckle. Often with
prep. on,
to, or
adv. on,
up,
together.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1645 Nailynge the speres, and helmes bokelynge. c 1400 Roland 694 Herd bukilis his helme, and gothe out sone. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. v. 17 Wyth pople tre hattis buklit on thair heid. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 158, Iust. You liue in great infamy. Fal. He that buckles him in my belt, cannot liue in lesse. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4156/4 Stolen..a..Mare..buckled up with a French Buckle. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. iv. 131 A servant on horseback would buckle on my box. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xvi, Buckle this harness on. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. vii. 221 About his limbs The mail was buckled. |
† b. To fasten (
up) in any way; also
fig. to buckle in: to limit, enclose.
Obs.| 1460 Quia Amore Langueo 51 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 152 Bocled my feet, as was her wille, with scharpe naile. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 140 The stretching of a span buckles in his summe of age. 1792 A. Wilson Watty & Meg, Up my claes and cash I buckled. |
2. a. trans. With allusion to the fastening on of armour: To equip, prepare (for battle, an expedition, etc.). Chiefly
refl., and now only
fig.: To gird oneself, apply oneself resolutely
to (a task).
| 1570 Levins Manip. 185 To Buckle him, parare se. 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 31 Everie man..must buckle himselfe to a painfull kind of life. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 12 Buckling soone himselfe, gan fiercely fly Upon that carle. 1611 W. Sclater Key (1629) 326 No maruaile if Angels so desirously buckle themselues to prie hereinto. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. vi. §16 Cartwright buckled himself to the employment [refuting the Rhemish Transl. of the N. Test.]. 1730 T. Boston Mem. ix. 270 Where I thought I was best buckled. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 368 Now buckles himself to the uninterrupted perusal of the instructive text. |
b. intr. (for
refl.) in same sense.
| 1563 Bp. Sandys in Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxxv. 398 Whereat one of Sir Johns men buckled to fight with him. 1623 Sanderson 12 Serm. (1637) 132 Before wee either eate or drinke, or buckle about any worldly busines. 1625 Bacon Delayes, Ess. (Arb.) 525 To teach dangers to come on, by ouer early Buckling towards them, is another Extreme. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxi. §43 The Epicure buckles to Study, when Shame..shall make him uneasy. 1757 Chesterfield Lett. cccxx. IV. 90 Those who have a great deal of business must..buckle to it. 1877 W. Lytteil Landmarks iv. x. 248 Their husbands and brothers must buckle to the fight. |
c. to buckle ˈto: to set to work, apply oneself vigorously. Also
to buckle down (to) (
orig. U.S.).
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1727) 107 'Squire South buckled too, to assist his friend Nic. 1746 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 21, I have shook off idleness, and begun to buckle to. 1812 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. II. 375, I cannot buckle to, until this business of the Museum is determined. 1865 Atlantic Monthly XV. 301 If he would only buckle down to serious study. 1871 B. Harte Poems 55 Chiquita Buckled right down to her work. 1884 Pres. Addr. Philol. Soc. 4 He buckled to at once, learned in a month or so enough Iroquois for present needs. 1934 Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves xxii. 280 The recollection of what this bell could do when it buckled down to it gave me pause. 1941 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. 28/4 The music and lyric makers [of Best Foot Forward] have been equally inventive, without being afraid of rhythm and melody. ‘Buckle Down, Winsocki’ is a song highly recommended to any school in need of such. 1949 A. Miller Death of Salesman i. 40 If he doesn't buckle down he'll flunk math! 1983 E. Reveley In Good Faith x. 157 But you'll really have to buckle down and cram for those exams, Moo. |
3. a. trans. To join closely.
b. intr. (for
refl.). To close, come to close quarters; to grapple, engage. Const.
with (an adversary); also with advbs.
together,
in, rarely
to.
Obs. or
dial.| 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. iv. 14 They buckled together, and the Heithen were discomfited. 1543 Grafton Contn. Harding 455 The erle..folowed his enemyes..that..he myght fight and buckel with theim before they came to London. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs in Arb. Garner III. 255 Unable to buckle with the dog that would fain haue a snatch at his skin. ? 1650 Don Bellianis 198 A man that had been going to buckle with death. 1752 Hume Pol. Disc. x. 189 The whole armies were thus engag'd, and each man closely buckl'd to his antagonist. |
† c. To adhere resolutely
to.
Obs. rare.
| 1793 Roberts Looker-on (1794) II. 338, I resolved to buckle to my tenets to the last extremity. |
† d. trans. (
ellipt.) To grapple with, engage, ‘tackle’.
Obs.| a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting 154 Pedler, I pittie thee sa pinde To buckle him that beares the bell. |
4. a. trans. To unite in marriage.
humorous or
dial. Cf. splice.
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) I. 28 An ye wad gi's a bit land Wee'd buckle us e'en the gither. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) II. 50 Our friend the licentiate, who will buckle you handsomely. 1796 Macneill Will & Jean i, Soon they loed, and soon were buckled. 1822 Scott Nigel xxvii, Dr. R. who buckles beggars for a tester and a dram of Geneva. |
b. intr. To unite oneself in wedlock.
| 1693 Dryden Juvenal's Sat. vi. 37 Is this an age to buckle with a bride? 1806 Train Poet. Rev. 64 (Jam.) Ask'd her..Gin she wadna buckle too. 1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton III. 163 (Jam.) May..is the only month that nobody in the north country ever thinks of buckling in. |
II. With reference to
buckle n. 3.
† 5. To fasten or retain in curl.
Obs.| 1721 Bailey, Buckle..to put into buckles as hair. 1789–96 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 561 Their hair..they buckle up in a very agreeable manner. |
III. To bend, warp.
6. a. trans. To warp, crumple, bend out of its plane. Now chiefly
techn.: To bend a bar or surface (under longitudinal pressure) into a double curve; as ‘to buckle a saw, or the wheel of a bicycle or tricycle’. Also
fig.| c 1525 in Thoms Anecdotes (1839) 54 Ninepences are a little buckled to distinguish in their currancie. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 18 Reason doth buckle and bowe the mind unto the nature of things. 1658 Ford Witch of Edm. ii. i, I am..like a bow—buckled and bent together. 1854 N. & Q. i. IX. 576/1 An awkward person, working incautiously with a saw, will probably..buckle it. 1868 Daily Tel. 3 July, It..struck the 15-inch portion..buckling, bending, and breaking the inner bars. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 58 It would buckle the mast. 1921 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 291 It [sc. the French budget] may..for practical purposes, be considered to be ‘buckled’. |
b. intr. To bend under stress or pressure.
† Of persons: To bend, stoop, double up (
obs.).
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 141 Whose Feauer-weakned ioynts, Like strengthlesse Hindges, buckle vnder life. 1637 J. Pocklington Altare Chr. 154 His knees may not buckle to Baal. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 214 Where ever they find the Work buckle. 1700 J. Brome Trav. i. (1707) 38 We were enforced..to stoop, and buckle almost double. 1851 H. Melville Whale xiii. 66 The two tall masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes. Mod. The wheel of his tricycle has buckled. |
c. to buckle up: to become warped and bent, to collapse. Also
fig. (
cf. 7).
| 1866 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. i. 140 Its expansion and contraction..rendering it [sc. plane iron] liable to ‘buckle up’. 1927 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 12/2 Such a man as Biquet is not given to buckling up. |
† 7. fig. To give way, submit; to cringe, truckle.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1642 Rogers Naaman 260 Outwardly they..seeme to crouch and buckle. 1664 Pepys Diary 17 Dec., The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle. 1703 Savage Lett. Antients lxxii. 212 Consider, how many great Nations..they have..forc'd to Buckle. 1864 E. Capern Devon Provinc., ‘To make him buckle’ is To make him yield. |
IV. Comb., as
† buckle-beggar (
Sc.), a clergyman who performs irregular marriages, a hedge-priest;
† buckle-bosom, a catchpoll, constable.
| c 1700 Ld. Fountainhill Diary in Larwood Bk. Cleric. Anecd. 294 He after turn'd a buckle-beggar, i.e. one who married without licence. 1822 Scott Nigel xvii, A hedge-parson, or buckle-beggar..sate on the Duke's left. 1623 Mabbe Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 63 Buckle-bosomes, Collar-catchers: in a word, they are Sergeants and Catchpoles. |
Add:
[I.] [2.] d. to buckle up: to fasten one's seat-belt.
N. Amer.| 1976 Forbes (N.Y.) 15 Oct. 40/1 As you gulp your martini and buckle up, a silver lining begins to girdle the clouds. 1986 New Yorker 7 Apr. 38/2 She settles in, buckles up, then leans forward and runs one finger over the dashboard. 1987 Los Angeles Times 27 Apr. v. 5/2 The Night Rider and another device, the Night Lighter, with lights that spin around the license plate, are displayed beneath a sign that reads ‘Buckle Up and Light Up!’ |