unbutton

English

Etymology

From Middle English onbottonen, unbotonen; equivalent to un- +‎ button.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈbʌtən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌtən

Verb

unbutton (third-person singular simple present unbuttons, present participle unbuttoning, simple past and past participle unbuttoned)

1. (ambitransitive) To open (something) by undoing its buttons.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     Being now too high wound up to bear a delay, he unbutton'd, and drawing out the engine of love-assaults, drove it currently, as at a ready-made breach

2. (intransitive, ergative) To come open by having its buttons unfastened.
   • 2010, Janet Chapman, Tempt Me If You Can, page 70:

     He was so muscled and firm, and the canvas shirt under his jacket unbuttoned easily.

Related terms

• unbuttoned

Translations

(transitive)

Bulgarian: откопчавам (bg) f (otkopčavam) Catalan: desbotonar (ca) Finnish: avata napit French: déboutonner (fr) Galician: desabotoar (gl) German: aufknöpfen (de) Greek: ξεκουμπώνω (el) (xekoumpóno) Ido: desbutonagar (io) Italian: sbottonare (it) Portuguese: desabotoar (pt) Romanian: descheia (ro) Russian: расстёгивать (ru) impf (rasstjógivatʹ), расстегну́ть (ru) pf (rasstegnútʹ) Spanish: desabotonar (es) Swedish: knäppa upp Turkish: çözmek (tr)