buckle 
curl carefully arranged, and turned toward the 
head, worn by women in the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 4f. The condition of being curled, as of 
hair. 
He lets his wig lie in buckle for ;\ whole half year. 
Addition, Spectator, No. 129. 
buckle 2 (buk'l),n. [<ME. boktc, bokel,boele,etc., 
< OF. boclc, buclc, F. boucle, the boss of a shield, 
a ring, a buckle, = Pr. bocla, bloca = OSp. blucu 
= MLG. bokele = MD. boeckel, bockel = MHG. 
buckel, boss of a shield, G. bucket, a boss, knob, 
hump, < ML. bucula, buccula, a beaver, a shield, 
the boss of a shield, a buckle, L. buccula, a bea- 
ver, a little cheek or mouth, dim. of bucca, 
cheek: see bucca.'} 1. A clasp consisting of a 
rectangular or curved rim, with one or more 
movable tongues secured to the chape at one 
side or in the middle, and long enough to rest 
upon the opposite side : used for fastening to- 
gether two straps or belts or the ends of the 
same strap, or for some similar purpose. It is 
sewed or otherwise fastened to one band or end, and the 
other is passed through it, being kept from slipping by 
the tongue or tongues. Buckles for use in dress have 
often been made highly ornamental, especially for shoes. 
See shoe-b tickle. 
2. In her., same as arming-buckle. 3. An 
iron loop for fastening the blade to the frame 
of a wood-saw.^ TO turn the buckle of the belt 
behind, to prepare to join in close fight. 
buckle^ (buk'l), v. ; pret. and pp. buckled, ppr. 
bueklin;/. [< ME. buclcn, bokelen, boclen, buckle, 
stud, < OF.*bocl<r, bonder, F. bonder, buckle; 
from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To fasten with a 
buckle or buckles. 2. To prepare for action 
of any kind (a metaphor taken from buckling 
on armor previous to engaging in battle); 
hence, to set vigorously to work at anything: 
with a reflexive pronoun. 
The Sarazin . . . him buckled to the field. 
Speiuer, F. Q., I. vl. 41. 
Hereupon Cartwright buckled himself to the employ- 
ment. Fuller. 
3f. To join in battle. 
The foot . . . were buckled with them in front. 
Sir J. llayward. 
4. To confine or limit. [Bare.] 
How brief tlie life of man, . . . 
That the stretching of a span 
Buckles in his sum of age. 
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 2. 
5. To join together; unite in marriage. 
[Scotch.] 
Dr. R., who buckles beggars for a tester and a dram of 
Geneva. i Scott. 
Il.t intrans. To marry. 
Good silly Stellio, we must shortly buckle. 
Mother Bombie. (Ilallm-ell.) 
buckle-beggar (buk'l-beg"ar), n. [Sc., also 
buckle-the-beggars ; < buckle 2 , v., 5, + obj. beg- 
gar.] A person who performs the ceremony 
of marriage in a clandestine and irregular man- 
ner. Scott. 
buckled 1 (buk'ld),jA a. [< buckle* + -ed*.] Not 
smooth and flat; bent, wavy, or wrinkled; 
having the appearance of having been crum- 
pled Buckled plates, iron plates used as a foun- 
dation for flooring in fire-proof buildings, in place of 
brick arches. Their edges have a flat rim called a fillet, 
and the middle is slightly convex. They are generally 
of a square or an oblong form, and rest upon iron gir- 
ders with the convex side upward. 
buckled' 2 (buk'ld), p. a. [< buckle^ + -ecP.] 
1. Fastened with a buckle. 2. In her., hav- 
ing a buckle, as a belt, garter, or the like. 
buckle-horns (buk'l-hornz), n. pi. Short 
crooked horns turning horizontally inward. 
Grose. [North. Eng.] 
buckle-mouthed! (buk'l-moutht), a. Hav- 
ing large straggling teeth. [North. Eng.] 
buckler (buk'ler), n. [< ME. bokeler, bocler, 
etc., < OF. bocler, bucler, F. bouclier (= Pr. 
bloquier = Sp. Pg. broquel = It. brocchiere = 
MLG. bokeler = D. beukelaar = MHG. buckeler 
= Icel. buklari = ODan. buckler, buglere) (ML. 
as if "buccularius), a shield, < bode, the boss of 
a shield: see buckle'*.] 1. A shield; specifi- 
706 
cally, a small shield intended to parry blows or 
thrusts ; but not so large as to cover the body. 
The buckler of the middle ages in western Europe was 
generally round, and rarely more than two feet in diam- 
eter, eighteen inches, or even less, being a more common 
size. It was generally grasped by the hand only, and held 
at arm's-length, and in combat was interposed to receive 
the blow of a sword, like the dagger which was held for 
this purpose in the left hand in later times. See filiielil. 
2. Naut., a piece of wood fitted to stop the 
hawse-holes of a ship, to prevent the sea from 
coming in, or to stop the circular hole in a port- 
lid when the gun is run in. Hawse-bucklers 
are now made of iron. 3. The anterior seg- 
ment of the carapace or shell of a trilobite. 
4. A plate on the body or head of a fish ; espe- 
cially, a plate in front of the dorsal fin in va- 
rious catfishes, or Nematognathi. 5. A stage 
of the molting American blue crab, Callinectes 
hastatus, when the shell has become nearly 
hard. 6. A piece of beef cut off from the sir- 
loin Blind buckler. See blindl. 
buckler (buk'ler), v. t. [< buckler, n.] To be 
a buckler or shield to ; support ; defend. 
They shall not touch thee, Kate : 
I'll buckler thee against a million. 
Shak., T. of the S., iii. 2. 
buckler-fern (buk'ler-fern), n. A name of spe- 
cies of Aspidium, especially of the section Lais- 
trea, which are distinguished by free veins and 
round, reniform indusia. 
buckler-fish (buk'ler-fish), n. A fish of the 
genus Cephalaspis. 
buckler-headed (buk'ler-hed"ed), a. Having 
a head like a buckler. Lyell. 
buckling (buk'ling), n. [Verbal n. of buckle^, 
.] The act of bending; tendency to bend or 
become wavy. 
The thinness of the blade [of the hand-saw] requires 
that it should be made wide to give it sufficient stiffness 
to resist buckling. Morgan, Manual of Mining Tools, p. 114. 
buckling-comb (buk'ling-kom), n. A small 
comb used to secure the curls called buckles 
worn by women. 
buck-log (buk'log), n. [< buckT, beech (as in 
buck-mast, buckwheat), + log."] A beech log. 
A brutal cold country . . . to camp out in ; never a buck- 
log to his nre, no, nor a stick thicker than your finger for 
seven mile round. //. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, v. 
buck-mackerel (buk'mak"e-rel), . A name 
about Banff, Scotland, of the scad, Trachurus 
trachurus. 
buck-mastt (buk'mast), n. [< ME. bukmast (= 
MLG. bokmast), < buk for *bok, beech (see 
buckT, beech*), + mast?. Cf. buckwheat.] The 
mast or fruit of the beech-tree; beech-mast 
(which see). 
The bores fedynge is propreliche ycleped akyr [acornl of 
ookys beryuge, and bukmaxt. MS. Kodl., p. 546. (Ilalliu'ell.) 
buck-moth (buk'm6th), . A name given to a 
delicate crape-winged moth, Hemileuca maia 
(Drury), of the family Hornbyc'idie : so called, it 
Exterior. Interior. 
Buckler, beginning of i6th century. 
it at the girdle. (From Viollet-le- 
lobilierfrancais.") 
The hook is intended for ban 
Due's "Diet. 
Male Buck -moth (Hentileuca maia} and Eggs, natural size. 
is said, on account of its flying late in the fall, 
when the deer run. The larva? feed on the oak and 
willow, and tile eggs are laid in naked rings around their 
twigs. 
buckpot(buk'pot), n. [SeebuckS.] A cooking- 
pot made in British Guiana from a peculiar local 
clay. It is popularly supposed to be necessary for the 
proper making of the dish called pepper-pot (which see). 
buckra (buk'ra), n. and a. [In the southern 
United States also bockra. Said to mean, on 
the Calabar coast in western Africa, a power- 
ful and superior being, a demon. J. L. Wilson.'] 
I. n. A white man: used by the blacks of the 
African coast, the West Indies, and the south- 
ern United States. 
II. . White: as, buckra yam, white yam. 
[Negroes' English.] 
buckskin 
buckram (buk'ram), M. andfl. [Early mod. E. 
also buckeram, < ME. bokcram, bockrom, once 
baugercn (= MD. bockerael), < OF. boqueran, 
boucaran, boquerant, bouqueran, bouqucrrant, 
bougucrant, boughcran, bourgrain, bougrain, F. 
bougran = Pr. bocaran, boqueran = Cat. bocaran 
= Sp. bucaran, bocaran = It. Intcherame; MLG. 
bukram = MHG. buckeram, buggeram; ML. 
boqueraunus, buckram. Origin unknown; by 
some conjecturally referred to ML. boqucna, 
f oat's skin (cf. botjuinus, of a goat), < OF. boc, 
MHG. boc, G. bock = E. buck 1 ; by others sup- 
posed to be a transposition of F. bouracan, bar- 
racan: see barracan.] I. n. 1. Formerly, a fine 
and costly material used for church banners 
and vestments and for personal wear; also, a 
cheaper material used for linings. 
Fine linen, of that kind by the older ecclesiastical writ- 
ers called "byssus," which, during the middle ages, was 
known here in England under the name of "buckram." 
Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 104. 
2. In recent times, coarse linen cloth stiffened 
with glue or gum, used as a stiffening for keep- 
ing garments in a required shape, and recently 
also in binding books. 3f. A buckram bag 
used by lawyers' clerks. 
Lean. Alas, I was brought up 
Ama. To be an ass, 
A lawyer's ass, to carry books and buckrams ! 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 7. 
How he is metamorphos'd ! 
Nothing of lawyer left, not a bit of buckram, 
No soliciting face now. 
Beau, and Fl., Little French Lawyer, iii. 2. 
4. The ramson or bear's-garlic, Allium ursinum. 
5. In the old herbals, the cuckoo-pint, Arum 
maeulatum. 
II. a. Made of or resembling buckram of 
either kind ; hence, stiff ; precise ; formal. 
Two rogues in buckram suits. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 
Buckram scribe. Fletcher, Spanish Curate. 
A black buckram cassock was gathered at his middle 
with a belt, at which hung, instead of knife or weapon, a 
goodly leathern pen-and-ink case. Scott, Kenilworth, I. ix. 
[Used as a general term of contempt. 
Ah, thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord ! 
Shak., > Hen. VI., iv. 7.] 
buckram (buk'ram), v. t. [< buckram, n.] To 
strengthen with buckram, or in the manner of 
buckram ; make stiff. Camper, Task, vi. 652. 
Natural good taste, and still more his buckramed habit 
of clerical decorum, . . . carried him safely through the 
. . . crisis. Hauihortie, Scarlet Letter, xx. 
buck-saw (buk'sa), n. A saw set in an upright 
frame or bow, and used with both hands in 
cutting wood on a support called a buck. [U. S. 
and Canada.] 
buck's-beard (buks ' berd), n. A herbaceous 
perennial plant, Tragopogon pratensis, more 
usually called goafs-beard, from its long, 
coarse, tawny pappus. 
buckshish, bucksheesh (buk'shesh), . Same 
as bakshish. 
buck's-horn (buks'horn), n. A name given 
to several plants on account of their forked 
leaves, as the Plantago Coronoptis (also called 
buck's-horn plantain}, the Senebiera Corono- 
lis, and the South African Lobelia coronopi- 
folia. 
buck-shot (buk'shot), n. A large size of shot, 
so named from its use in killing deer Buck- 
shot war, in U. S. hint., a contest in the Pennsylvania 
House of Representatives, accompanied by mobs and 
other violent demonstrations, in December, 1H.S8, be- 
tween two rival organizations, the one composed of 
Whigs, the other of Democrats, each of which claimed 
to be the true House. The name is derived from the 
reported threat of a Whig member that the mob 
should feel ball and buck-shot before the day was 
over. 
buckskin (buk'skin), . and a. [< buck! + 
skin; = Icel. bukkaskinn = Dan. bukkcskind.] 
I.n.l. The skin of a buck. 2. A kind of soft 
leather of a yellowish or grayish color, made 
originally by treating deerskins in a peculiar 
way, but now usually prepared from sheepskins. 
In its preparation a great deal of manipulation is required, 
the softness which is its chief characteristic being pro- 
duced by the use of either oil or brains in dressing it. It 
was formerly used for clothing, as by American Indians, 
frontiersmen, and soldiers, but is now used principally for 
thick gloves. 
3. pi. Breeches made of buckskin. 
A very stout, puffy man in buckskin* and Hessian boots. 
4. A person clothed in buckskin : a term ap- 
plied to the American troops during the Revo- 
lutionary War. 5. A horse of the color of 
buckskin. [Western U. S.] 
II. a. 1. Of or pertaining to buckskin. 2. 
Of the color of buckskin: used of a horse. 
[Western U. S.] 
