button up

phraseB1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To button up is to fasten every one of a shirt's round fasteners. From the bottom, if you want to get them in the right holes.

It splits round an object. Buttoning up a coat against the cold is the standard use. There is a figurative sense about secrecy, since buttoning up means saying nothing, and the adjective buttoned-up describes somebody who never shows what they feel. American English also uses buttoned-up to mean thoroughly organised, which is nearly the opposite in flavour.

Definitions of button up

1phrasebutton upTo fasten something with buttons.B1
“Button up your coat before you go out.”

Practised in Clothes & Fashion, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

← Vocabulary

button up

phraseB1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To button up is to fasten every one of a shirt's round fasteners. From the bottom, if you want to get them in the right holes.

Definitions of button up

1phrasebutton upTo fasten something with buttons.B1
“Button up your coat before you go out.”

Practised in Clothes & Fashion, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word