What does buttonhole mean?
A buttonhole is, most basically, the slit or stitched opening in a garment through which a button is passed to fasten it — a small piece of tailoring so essential that most people never think about it. The word also has two other well-established lives. In British English, a buttonhole can refer to the flower or small sprig worn through that slit on formal occasions, a sense Americans express with the French borrowing 'boutonniere'. And as a verb, to buttonhole someone is to intercept them and hold them in conversation, often longer than they would like: a journalist might buttonhole a minister in a corridor, or a neighbour might buttonhole you by the gate. This figurative sense, which arose in the mid-nineteenth century, lends the word its most vivid modern flavour, suggesting friendly persistence shading into mild ambush. Informal but widely understood, it is a useful word for describing exactly how some conversations begin.
A slit or stitched opening in a garment through which a button is passed to fasten it.
"The seamstress bound each buttonhole neatly in silk thread."
In British usage, the term can also denote the flower worn in the lapel through this opening.
To stop someone and engage them in conversation, often persistently or without their consent.
"She managed to buttonhole the CEO in the lift and make her pitch before he escaped."
Informal register; often implies the conversation was unwelcome or prolonged.
Regular plural formation.
"The tailor sewed six buttonholes down the front of the jacket."
In British English, a 'buttonhole' once meant what Americans call a 'boutonniere' — the very flower you'd slip through it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of buttonhole
The word combines 'button', from Old French 'bouton' (a bud or knob, ultimately of Germanic origin), with 'hole'. The noun is attested in English by the early fifteenth century as part of dressmaking vocabulary. The verb sense — to detain someone in talk — emerged in the 1860s, apparently because a determined speaker would figuratively seize a listener's buttonhole to hold him fast.
Related word forms
How buttonhole is actually used
As a verb, 'buttonhole' carries a slightly informal, often humorous connotation of being trapped in an unwanted conversation. The floral sense is chiefly British; American speakers use 'boutonniere' instead.
Easily confused with buttonhole
A boutonniere is the flower itself worn on the lapel (often through a buttonhole), while a buttonhole is the slit in the fabric.