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buck - 25 dictionary results

buck

1 [buhk]

Use buck in a Sentence

–noun

1.	the male of the deer, antelope, rabbit, hare, sheep, or goat.

2.	the male of certain other animals, as the shad.

3.	an impetuous, dashing, or spirited man or youth.

4.	Often Disparaging. a male American Indian or black.

buckskin.

6.	bucks, casual oxford shoes made of buckskin, often in white or a neutral color.

–adjective

7.	Military. of the lowest of several ranks involving the same principal designation, hence subject to promotion within the rank: buck private; buck sergeant.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME bukke, OE bucca he-goat, bucc male deer; c. D bok, G Bock, ON bukkr; def. 5, 6 by shortening; buck private (from ca. 1870) perh. as extension of general sense “male,” i.e., having no status other than being male

buck

2 [buhk]

–verb (used without object)

1.	(of a saddle or pack animal) to leap with arched back and come down with head low and forelegs stiff, in order to dislodge a rider or pack.

2.	Informal. to resist or oppose obstinately; object strongly: The mayor bucked at the school board's suggestion.

3.	(of a vehicle, motor, or the like) to operate unevenly; move by jerks and bounces.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to throw or attempt to throw (a rider or pack) by bucking.

5.	to force a way through or proceed against (an obstacle): The plane bucked a strong headwind.

6.	to strike with the head; butt.

7.	to resist or oppose obstinately; object strongly to.

8.	Football. (of a ball-carrier) to charge into (the opponent's line).

9.	to gamble, play, or take a risk against: He was bucking the odds when he bought that failing business.

10.	to press a reinforcing device against (the force of a rivet) in order to absorb vibration and increase expansion.

–noun

11.	an act of bucking.

—Verb phrases

12.	buck for, to strive for a promotion or some other advantage: to buck for a raise.

13.	buck up, to make or become more cheerful, vigorous, etc.: She knew that with a change of scene she would soon buck up.

Origin:
1855–60; verbal use of buck ¹ , influenced in some senses by buck ³

buck

3 [buhk]

–noun

1.	a sawhorse.

2.	Gymnastics. a cylindrical, leather-covered block mounted in a horizontal position on a single vertical post set in a steel frame, for use chiefly in vaulting.

3.	any of various heavy frames, racks, or jigs used to support materials or partially assembled items during manufacture, as in airplane assembly plants.

4.	Also called door buck. a doorframe of wood or metal set in a partition, esp. one of light masonry, to support door hinges, hardware, finish work, etc.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to split or saw (logs, felled trees, etc.).

—Verb phrase

6.	buck in, Surveying, Optical Tooling. to set up an instrument in line with two marks.

Origin:
1855–60; short for sawbuck

buck

4 [buhk]

–noun

1.	Poker. any object in the pot that reminds the winner of some privilege or obligation when his or her turn to deal next comes.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to pass (something) along to another, esp. as a means of avoiding responsibility or blame: He bucked the letter on to the assistant vice president to answer.

—Idiom

3.	pass the buck, to shift responsibility or blame to another person: Never one to admit error, he passed the buck to his subordinates.

Origin:
1860–65; short for buckhorn knife, an object which served this function

buck

5 [buhk]

British Dialect

–noun

1.	lye used for washing clothes.

2.	clothes washed in lye.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to wash or bleach (clothes) in lye.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME bouken (v.); cf. MLG buken, büken to steep in lye, MHG būchen, bruchen

buck

6 [buhk]

–verb (used without object), noun Anglo-Indian.

bukh.

buck

7 [buhk]

–adverb Informal.

completely; stark: buck naked.

Origin:
1925–30, Americanism; of obscure orig.

buck

8 [buhk]

–noun Slang.

a dollar.

Origin:
1855–60, Americanism; perh. buck ¹ in sense “buckskin”; deerskins were used by Indians and frontiersmen as a unit of exchange in transactions with merchants

Buck

[buhk]

–noun

1.	Pearl (Sy⋅den⋅strick⋅er) [sahyd-n-strik-er] Show IPA , 1892–1973, U.S. novelist: Nobel prize 1938.

2.	a male given name.

bukh

[boo

Anglo-Indian.

–verb (used without object)

1.	to prate or brag.

–noun

2.	small talk; prattle; bragging.

Also, buck.

Origin:
< Hindi bak talk

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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buck¹ (bŭk)

1. The adult male of some animals, such as the deer, antelope, or rabbit.
2. Antelope considered as a group: a herd of buck.
3. A robust or high-spirited young man.
4. A fop.
5. Buckskin.
6. bucks Buckskin breeches or shoes.
1. A robust or high-spirited young man.
2. A fop.
3. Buckskin.
4. bucks Buckskin breeches or shoes.
Offensive A Native American or Black man.
An act or instance of bucking: a horse that unseated its rider on the first buck.
1. Buckskin.
2. bucks Buckskin breeches or shoes.

v. bucked, buck·ing, bucks

v. intr.

To leap upward arching the back: The horse bucked in fright.
To charge with the head lowered; butt.
To make sudden jerky movements; jolt: The motor bucked and lurched before it finally ran smoothly.
To resist stubbornly and obstinately; balk.
Informal To strive with determination: bucking for a promotion.

v. tr.

To throw or toss by bucking: buck off a rider; bucked the packsaddle off its back.
To oppose directly and stubbornly; go against: "Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the country, is bucking the trend" (American Demographics).
Football To charge into (an opponent's line) carrying the ball.
Archaic To butt against with the head.

adj. Of the lowest rank in a specified military category: a buck private; a buck sergeant.
Phrasal Verb(s):
buck upTo summon one's courage or spirits; hearten: My friends tried to buck me up after I lost the contest.

[Middle English bukke, from Old English buc, male deer, and bucca, male goat.]
buck'er n.

buck² (bŭk)

A sawhorse or sawbuck.
A leather-covered frame used for gymnastic vaulting.

[Alteration (influenced by buck¹) of Dutch bok, male goat, trestle, from Middle Dutch boc.]

buck³ (bŭk)

n. Informal

A dollar.
An amount of money: working overtime to make an extra buck.

[Short for buckskin (from its use in trade).]

buck⁴ (bŭk)

n. Games

A counter or marker formerly passed from one poker player to another to indicate an obligation, especially one's turn to deal.
Informal Obligation to account for something; responsibility: tried to pass the buck for the failure to his boss.

tr.v. bucked, buck·ing, bucks Informal
To pass (a task or duty) to another, especially so as to avoid responsibility: "We will see the stifling of initiative and the increased bucking of decisions to the top" (Winston Lord).

[Short for buckhorn knife (from its use as a marker in poker).]

Buck (bŭk)

American writer whose life as a missionary in China lent a vivid immediacy to her novels, including The Good Earth (1931). She won the 1938 Nobel Prize for literature.

Buck

Buck\ (b[u^]k), n. [Akin to LG. b["u]ke, Dan. byg, Sw. byk, G. bauche: cf. It. bucato, Prov. Sp. bugada, F. bu['e]e.]

1. Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed.

2. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed. [Obs.] --Shak.

Buck

Buck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bucked (b[u^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Bucking.] [OE. bouken; akin to LG. b["u]ken, Dan. byge, Sw. byka, G. bauchen, beuchen; cf. OF. buer. Cf. the preceding noun.]

1. To soak, steep, or boil, in lye or suds; -- a process in bleaching.

2. To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.

3. (Mining) To break up or pulverize, as ores.

Buck

Buck\, n. [OE. buk, bucke, AS. bucca, bua, he-goat; akin to D. bok, OHG. pocch, G. bock, Ir. boc, W. bwch, Corn. byk; cf. Zend b?za, Skr. bukka. [root]256. Cf. Butcher, n.]

1. The male of deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and rabbits.

Note: A male fallow deer is called a fawn in his first year; a pricket in his second; a sorel in his third; a sore in his fourth; a buck of the first head in his fifth; and a great buck in his sixth. The female of the fallow deer is termed a doe. The male of the red deer is termed a stag or hart and not a buck, and the female is called a hind. --Brande & C.

2. A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a dandy.

The leading bucks of the day. --Thackeray.

3. A male Indian or negro. [Colloq. U.S.]

Note: The word buck is much used in composition for the names of antelopes; as, bush buck, spring buck.

Blue buck. See under Blue.

Water buck, a South African variety of antelope (Kobus ellipsiprymnus). See Illust. of Antelope.

Buck

Buck\ (b[u^]k), v. i. 1. To copulate, as bucks and does.

2. To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said of a vicious horse or mule.

Buck

Buck\, v. t. 1. (Mil.) To subject to a mode of punishment which consists in tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees.

2. To throw by bucking. See Buck, v. i., 2.

The brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him out of the saddle. --W. E. Norris.

Buck

Buck\, n. A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck.

Buck saw, a saw set in a frame and used for sawing wood on a sawhorse.

Buck

Buck\, n. [See Beech, n.] The beech tree. [Scot.]

Buck mast, the mast or fruit of the beech tree. --Johnson.

Language Translation for : buck

Spanish: macho,

German: der Bock,

Japanese: 雄鹿

More Translations »

buck

O.E. bucca "male goat," from P.Gmc. *bukkon (cf. M.Du. boc, O.H.G. boc, O.N. bokkr), perhaps from a PIE base *bhugo (cf. Avestan buza "buck, goat," Arm. buc "lamb"), but some speculate that it is from a lost pre-Gmc. language. Apparently O.E. also had buc "male deer." The two words (if truly separate) were fully merged by c.1100. Verb is 1848, apparently with a sense of "jump like a buck." Meaning of "dollar" is 1856, Amer.Eng., perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748. Buckshot is first recorded 1447; buck up "cheer up" is from 1844. Pass the buck is first recorded in the lit. sense 1865, Amer.Eng.:

"The 'buck' is any inanimate object, usually knife or pencil, which is thrown into a jack pot and temporarily taken by the winner of the pot. Whenever the deal reaches the holder of the 'buck', a new jack pot must be made." [J.W. Keller, "Draw Poker," 1887]

The fig, sense of "shift responsibility" is first recorded 1912.

Buck

1. Trader's slang for a million dollars. 2. Informal reference to one dollar.

Investopedia Commentary

This is a perfect example of how Wall Street jargon differs from everyday usage.