Buthus 
droftoiiida: B. carolinus (Beauvois) is common 
in the southern United States. Its sting is 
poisonous, but seldom fatal, 
butler (but'ler), w. [Early mod. E. also boteler, 
< ME. boteler, botler, butelcr, etc., < AF. butuiller, 
OF. buteiller, bouteillier, boutillier (ML. butieu- 
larius), < AF. butuille, OF. boutcille, < ML. bu- 
ticula, a bottle: see bottle^.] 1. A man-servant 
in a household whose principal duty is to take 
charge of the liquors, plate, etc.; the head 
male servant of a household. 
And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership 
again ; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 
Gen. xl. 21. 
2. The title of an official of high rank nomi- 
nally connected with the importation and sup- 
ply of wine for the royal table, but having 
different duties in different countries and at 
various times. 
tun of wine imported into England by foreign- 
ers or merchant strangers: so called because 
originally paid to the king's butler for the king. 
These ordinary finances are casual or uncertain, as be 
the escheats, the customs, butlerage, and impost. Baton. 
2f. The office of butler; butlership. 3. The 
butler's department in a household. 
butleress (but'ler-es), H. [< butler + -ess.] A 
female butler. Chapman. 
butlership (but'ler-ship), n. [< butler + -ship.] 
The office of a butler. Gen. xl. 21. 
butlery (but'ler-i), n. [See buttery.] Same as 
buttery'*, 2. [Rare.] 
There was a butlery connected with the college, at which 
736 
Full butt, with the head directed at an object so as to 
strike it most effectively. 
ffiillf Imtt in the frunt the fromonde [forehead] he hittez. 
That the burnyscht blade to the brayne rynnez. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1112. 
The corporal ran full butt at the lieutenant. 
Mam/at, Snarleyyow, I. vi. 
butt 2 (but), H. [Also written but, early mod. 
E. butte, < ME. but, butte, a goal (meta), a mark 
to shoot at, but, butt, butte, a butt of land (ML. 
butta feme); < OF. "but, m., a but or mark," 
"btitte, f., a but or mark to shoot at," in an- 
otherform " bot, as but [a mark], Norm.; also, a 
luncheon, orill-favouredbigpiece" (Cotgrave), 
the same as OF. bot, end, extremity, mod. F. 
bout, end, extremity, part, piece, distinguished 
from mod. F. but, m., aim, goal, mark, butte, f., 
a mark, target, usually set upon rising ground, 
hence also a rising ground, knoll, hill, butte () 
E. butte, q. v.); all orig. < OF. bitter, boter, AF. 
buter, push, butt, strike, mod. F. bouter, put, 
which butt* is thus indirectly a derivative: see 
butt 1 . The forms and senses mix with some 
of appar. diff. origin : cf . Norw. butt, a stump, 
block, Icel. butr, a log, LG. butt, a stumpy 
child; G. butt = D. 60* = Dan. but, short and 
thick, stubby (> F. bot in pied bot, club-foot, = 
Sp. boto, blunt, round at the end) : referred, 
doubtfully, ult. to the root of E. beat 1 , q. v. 
prob. in part confused with LG. butt, etc., a 
tub, etc., = E. butt s .] 1 . The end or extremity 
of a thing. Particularly (n) The thicker, larger, or 
blunt end of a piece of timber, a musket, a fishing-rod, a 
whip-handle, etc. Also called butt-eml. (b) The thick or 
fleshy part of a plant, etc. (c) The buttocks ; the posteri- 
ors. [Vulgar.] (ri) A buttock of beef. [Prov. Eng. J 
butment (but'ment), n. An abbreviated form 
of abutment. 
butment-cheek (but'ment-chek), . The part 
of the material about a" mortise against which 
the shoulder of a tenon bears. 
Butorides (bu-tor'i-dez), H. [NL.] A genus 
of small herons, of the family Anleidce, of which 
green is the principal color; the little green 
herons. B. mrescem, the common shitepoke or fly-up- 
the-creek of the United States, is one species, and there 
are several others. 
but-shaftt, >i. See butt-shaft. 
butt 1 (but), v. [Also sometimes (like all the 
other words spelled butt) written but, early mod. 
E. bittte, < ME. button, push, throw, < AF. buter, 
OF. buter, boter, push, butt, strike, mod. F. 
bouter, put, buter, intr. hit the mark, aim, tr. 
prop, buttress, = Pr. botar, boutar, butar = Sp. 
Pg. botar = It. bottare, lance, buttare, push, 
thrust, throw, fling; perhaps < MHG. bozeii, 
strike, beat, = AS. beatan, etc., beat : see beat 1 . 
To the same ult. source are referred boss 1 , 
botch 1 , etc. ; also abut, of which butt 1 in some 
senses (II., 2, 3) is in part an abbr. form. 
Hence indirectly butft, buttress, etc.] I. traux. 
To strike by thrusting, as with the end of a beam 
or heavy stick, or with the horns, tusks, or head, 
as an ox, a boar, or a ram ; strike with the head. 
The here in the bataile the bygger hyni semyde, 
And byttes hyme holdlye wyth balefnlle tuskez. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 791. 
Come, leave your tears : a brief farewell : the beast 
With many heads butts me away. Shak., Cor., iv. 1. 
II. intrans. 1. To strike anything by thrust- 
ing the head against it, as an ox or a ram ; have 
a habit of striking in this manner. 
A ram will butt with his heart, though he be brought up 
tame, and never saw that manner of fighting. 
Ray, Works of Creation. 
When they [shepherds] called, the creatures came, ex- 
pecting salt and bread. It was pretty to see them lying 
near their masters, playing and butting at them with their 
horns, or bleating for the sweet rye-bread. 
J. A. Symoitd/i, Italy and Greece, p. 310. 
2. To join at the end or outward extremity; 
abut ; be contiguous. 
The poynt of that side butteth most vppon Genuany. 
' his Engh ' 
3. Specifically, in ship-building, to abut end to 
end; fit together end to end, as two planks. 
Also spelled but. 
butt 1 (but), . [< ME. butt; < butt 1 , v. The 
second sense is due in part to F. botte, a pass or 
thrust in fencing, < It. botta = Sp. Pg. bote, a 
thrust, blow ; from the same source as butt 1 , r.] 
1. A push or thrust given by the head of an 
animal : as, the butt of a ram. 2. A thrust in 
fencing. 
,, 
Fast-joint Butt. 
of timber which exactly meets another endwise 
in a ship's side or bottom; also, the juncture 
of two such pieces. 3. Inmach., 
the square end of a connecting- 
rod or other link, to which the 
bush-bearing is attached. 4. In 
carp., a door-hinge consisting of 
two plates of metal, or leaves, 
which interlock so as to form a 
movable joint,beingheld together 
by a pin or pintle. They are screwed to the butting 
parts of the door and casing, instead of to their adjoining 
sides as are the older strap-hinges. See fast-joint butt and 
loose-joint butt, below. Also called butt-hintje. 
5. In agri.: (a) A ridge in a plowed field, espe- 
cially when not of full length. Hence (b) A 
gore or gare. (c) pi. A small detached or dis- 
joined parcel of land left over in surveying. 
6. Inthe leather trade, ahide of sole-leather with 
the belly and shoulders cut off; a rounded crop. 
The heaviest hides . . . have received the name of butts 
or backs. Ure, Diet., III. 83. 
7f. A hassock. 8. The standing portion of 
a half -coupling at the end of a hose ; the me- 
tallic ring at the end of the hose of a fire-en- 
gine, or the like, to which the nozle is screwed. 
9. In target-shooting: (a) In archery, a mark 
to shoot at. (b) In rifle-practice, a wooden tar- 
get composed of several thicknesses of boards, 
with small spaces between them, so that the 
depth to which bullets penetrate can be ascer- 
tained, (c) In gunnery j a solid embankment of 
earth or sand into which projectiles are fired 
in testing guns, or in making ballistic experi- 
ments, (a) pi. The range or place where arch- 
ery, rifle, or gunnery practice is carried on, in 
distinction from the field. See target. Hence 
10. A person or thing that serves as a mark 
for shafts of wit or ridicule, or as an object of 
sarcastic or contemptuous remarks. 
I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought 
very smart, when my ill genius . . . suggested to him 
such a reply as got all th< 
. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 247. 
butt down upon this ; and they are 
BunyaH, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 101. 
There are many ways butt down upon this ; and they are 
crooked and wide. ' 
To prove who gave the fairer halt. 
John shows the chalk on Hubert's coat. 
J'riur. 
reply as got all the laughter on his side. 
That false prudence which dotes on health and wealth 
is the butt and merriment of heroism. 
Enter/ton, Essays, 1st ser., p. 229. 
11. A goal; abound; a limit. 
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt, 
And very sea-mark of my utmost *;ul. 
Shalt., Othello, v. 2. 
12. In coal-mininy, the surface of the coal 
which is at right 'angles to the face. [Eng.] 
13. A shoemakers' knife. [North. Eng.] 
Also spelled but. 
Bead and butt. See bead, 9. Butt and butt, with the 
butt-ends together, but not overlapping, as two planks. 
Butts and bounds, the abuttals and boundaries of land. 
Butt's length, the ordinary distance from the place of 
shooting to the butt or mark: as, not two butt* / /////<* 
from the town. 
[They] rode so cloos oon after a-nother that whan thei 
wererenged that oon niyght biive caste a glove ypm tlu-iiv 
helmes that sholde not have falle to grouude. er thei hadrte 
ride a butte length*. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 385. 
buttal 
Fast-joint butt, a hinge in which the pintle that holds 
together the two leaves is removable, and the leaves are 
so interlocked that they cannot be separated without first 
removing the pintle. Hook and butt. See luiok.- Loose- 
joint butt, a hinge in which the jointed portion is halved, 
each half forming a part of one of the leaves. The pin is 
immovably fixed to one leaf, and enters a hole in the other 
leaf, thus enabling the leaves to be separated easily. 
Rising butt, a hinge in which the leaf attached to the 
doornses slightly as the door is opened. This action is 
effected by making the surface upon which this leaf moves 
inclined instead of horizontal. The object is to give the 
door a tendency to close automatically. Scuttled butt. 
Same as scuttle-butt. To give the butt to, in angling 
with a light fly-rod, to turn the butt of the rod toward the 
hooked fish, thus bending the rod upon itself and keeping 
a steady tension on the line. To start or spring a butt 
(naut.), to loosen the end of a plank by the weakness or 
laboring of the ship. 
butt 2 (but), i: [< butft, .] I. trans. If. To 
lay down bounds or limits for. 
That the dean, etc., do cause all and singular houses, 
dwellings of the church, to be bounded and butted. 
Abf. Parker, in Strype (fol. ed.), p. 304. 
2. To cut off the ends of, as boards, in order to 
make square ends or to remove faulty portions. 
E. H. Knight. 
II. intrans. To abut. See butt 1 , v., H., 2, 3. 
Also spelled but. 
butt 3 (but), n. [Also written but, early mod. E. 
but, butle; < (1) ME. bytte, bitte, bit, earlier butte, 
a leathern bottle, a wine-skin (in late ME. bitte, 
a leathern fire-bucket), < AS. b;/tt, byt, a leathern 
bottle, = MD. butte, D. but, a wooden bucket, 
= MLG. butte, LG. butte, butt = MHG. butte, G. 
butte, butte, a tub, coop, = Icel. bytta, a small 
tub, a bucket, pail, = Norw. bytta, a tub, bucket, 
pail, a brewing-vat (cf. butt, a keg, a butter- 
tub), = Sw. bytta, a pail, = Dan. botte, a tub, 
coop ; mixed with (2) ME. "butte (not found in 
this sense), < OF. boute, mod. F. botte = Pr. Sp. 
bota = It. botte, a butt, cask; cf. (3) AS. by den 
= MLG. bodene, boden, bode, bodde, budde, also 
bodeme (by confusion with bodeme = E. bottom) 
= OHG. butinna, MHG. butin, budin, biiten, bu- 
ten, biitten, G. butte (mixed with the above) = 
ODan. bodde, a butt, tun, tub, vat; cf. It. bot- 
tina, a little butt; (4) AS. buteruc, buteric, bu- 
truc, early ME. but-true = OS. buteric = OHG. 
butirih, puterih, MHG. buterich, butrich, a lea- 
thern bottle, a flask, G. dial, butterich, buttrich, 
a small tub or barrel, a keg (ML. buttericus, a 
tankard); and (5) see bottle^, from the same 
ult. source: < ML. buttis, butta, also butis, buta, 
a butt, a cask, MGr. fivrtf, flovric, a butt (NGr. 
floi'Ta, a tub, a churn, /hi-rat, a tub, a barrel), 
apj>ar. shortened from the older form (from 
which directly the third set of forms men- 
tioned), ML. butina, a flask, < Gr. irvrivi], later 
(Tarentine) ftvriv//, a flask covered with osier 
(cf. NGr. jivrha, a pan for salting meat). As 
in other vessel-names, the precise application 
varies in the different languages. In the sense 
of a particular measure of wine, the word is 
modern; cf. pipe in similar senses.] If. A 
leathern bottle or flask ; a bucket : in this sense 
only in Middle English, usually spelled bitoibitt. 
That the Bitters be redy w' hur horses and bittes to 
bryuge water . . . when euy parelle of fuyre ys w'yn the 
cite. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 382. 
2. A large cask, especially one to contain wine. 
3. A measure of wine equal to 126 United 
States (that is, old wine) gallons ; a pipe, it is 
no longer a legal measure in Great Britain, and the com- 
mon statement that an imperial butt is 126 imperial gal- 
lons is incorrect ; the butt is 110 imperial gallons. The 
measure was originally used chiefly for Spanish wine, ami 
the word was used to translate Spanish bota, which equaled 
126 United States gallons, and to distinguish that from 
the Spanish pipa, which contained only 114 United States 
gallons. Its present value was legalized by a statute of 
Anne. It is now confounded with the pipe. The pipe of 
Madeira is reputed to contain 110 gallons ; of Canary, 120 ; 
of Port, 1.38 ; of Marsala, 112. The bota and pipa, through- 
out Spain, vary but little from the values above given. In 
Portuguese countries two measures are common, one of 141 
gallons (Oporto, Lisbon for oil), and another of 110 gallons 
(Lisbon, Madeira, Porto Rico, Bahia). There is besides a 
Portuguese pipe of 132 gallons (Lisbon for oil. Bahia). In 
Italy the name botte is applied to a cask holding 200 
United States gallons or more ; but it was in many places 
confounded with the >'//*' which held only 160 to 170 gal- 
lons. The French word botte was never used as the name 
of a wine-measure ; neither was the German bittte or btittr. 
In Denmark there was a bodde of 123 United States gal- 
lons; in Gotha, a measure of the same name eiiiial to 115 
United States gallons. The botija of Bolivia is only !).:: 
United States gallons. A butt of London beer, iit the time 
when London beer was measured differently from ale. a> 
:! lucsheails. A butt of salmon, lij a Statute of Henry VI., 
was 84 gallons. 
4. A beehive. [Prov. Eug. (Exmoor).] 5. 
A cart. [Prov. Eng.] 
butt 4 t. n. See but-. 
buttal 1 (but'al), n. [Short for abuttal.'] If. 
A boundary; abound. 2. [Cf. butt'-*, H., 5.] A 
corner of ground. [Prov. Eng.] 
