butt in


Interfere, interrupt, intrude. For example, Mom is always butting in on our conversations, or It's against the law for employers to butt in on personal matters. This term alludes to the thrusting of an animal with its horns. [Slang; 1890s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use butt in in a sentence

  • Reinforcements and another butt-in at it, I233 expect, surmised Kentucky.

    Grapes of wrath | Boyd Cable
  • Sure, it never wa'n't none of my butt-in, but I used to tell old man Fairfax that Ranlett was narrer between the horns.

    The Trail of Conflict | Emilie Baker Loring
  • Sure enough it's none of my butt-in what sort of thing you do.

    Judith of Blue Lake Ranch | Jackson Gregory
  • Unless you'll say outright that I'll be a butt-in, I'm going with you.

    The King of Arcadia | Francis Lynde