button (redirected from buttony)

*bright as a button

intelligent; quick-minded. (Usually used to describe children. *Also: as ~.) Why, Mrs. Green, your little girl is as bright as a button. You can't fool Jane. She may be only six years old, but she's bright as a button.

See also: bright

button (up) one's lip

Fig. to stop talking. (Fixed order.) Please button up your lip! Will you button your lip? I don't want the news to get out.

See also: lip

button something down

to fasten something down with buttons. Button your collar down. You look too casually dressed. Please button down your collar.

button something up

to fasten something with buttons. Button your shirt up, please. I will button up my shirt.

See also: up

button up 

1. Lit. to fasten one's buttons. Your jacket's open. You'd better button up. It's cold. I'll button up in the car.

2. Fig. to get silent and stay silent. (See also button (up) one's lip.) Hey, button up! That's enough out of you. I wish you would button up and stop gossiping.

See also: up

Dad fetch my buttons!

Rur. What a surprise!; Goodness me! Dad fetch my buttons! It's a letter from Aunt Rita! Dad fetch my buttons, I never was so happy in all my life!

See also: fetch

hit the panic button and press the panic button; push the panic button

Fig. to panic suddenly. She hit the panic button and just went to pieces. Don't press the panic button. Relax and keep your eyes open.

See also: hit, panic

on the button

exactly right; in exactly the right place; at exactly the right time. That's it! You're right on the button. He got here at one o'clock on the button.

Well, bust my buttons!

Rur. What a surprise! Well, bust my buttons! It's good to see you! Well, bust my buttons! You did all the dishes!

See also: bust

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(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.

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. (American)

See also: hot

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.

See also: cute

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, have

hit/press/push the panic button

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

See also: hit, panic

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, right

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push somebody'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.

Related vocabulary: yank somebody'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