button (redirected from buttoned up)

be as bright as a button (British & Australian)

to be intelligent and able to think quickly. She was bright as a button - always asking questions and quick to help.

See also: bright

be as cute as a button (American & Australian)

to be very attractive. At 14, she was as cute as a button and the boys were starting to notice her.

Button it! (informal)

an impolite way of telling someone that you want them to stop talking. Button it, OK! I'm trying to think.

have a/your finger on the button

to be the person who controls the nuclear weapons (= weapons that use power made by dividing atoms) that a country has and decides whether to fire them. If Europe has its own nuclear deterrent, whose finger would be on the button?

See also: finger

hit/press/push the panic button

to do something quickly without thinking about it in order to deal with a difficult or worrying situation. We may have lost the last three games but we're not pushing the panic button yet. (often negative)

See also: hit, panic, press, push

a hot button (American, informal)

a subject that is important to people and which they feel very strongly about. Gender issues have become something of a hot button of late.

See also: hot

hot-button (American)

a hot button - a subject that is important to people and which they feel very strongly about. Sex discrimination in employment is a hot-button political issue now. (always before noun)

(right) on the button (mainly American, informal)

if a remark is on the button, it is exactly right. Your remarks about Tim were right on the button. He's arrogant, rude and selfish.

on the button (mainly American, informal)

if something happens at a particular time or is a particular amount on the button, it happens at exactly that time or is exactly that amount. We always sit down to eat at 6.00 on the button.

press/push the right button/buttons

to do exactly what is necessary to get the result that you want. You have to know how to push all the right buttons if you want to be a successful diplomat. Sometimes you're interviewing someone really shy and then you press the right button and they just don't stop talking.

See also: press, push, right

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push someone's buttons

to do exactly the right thing to get people to act the way you want. He was an extremely good speaker and knew just how to push an audience's buttons to keep them interested.

Usage notes: also used in the form know what buttons to push: People in your own family know exactly what buttons to push to upset you.

yank someone's chain

See also: push

push the panic button

to react to a situation with fear and confusion. Our coach isn't about to push the panic button just because we've lost two games in a row.

Usage notes: sometimes used with other verbs that have a similar meaning, such as press and hit: It's too early to hit the panic button, but our stocks lost half their value today.

See also: panic, push