button-down

[ buht-n-doun ]
See synonyms for button-down on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. (of a shirt collar) having buttonholes so it can be buttoned to the body of the shirt.

  2. (of a shirt) having a button-down collar.

  1. (of a shirt) having buttons down the front from the collar to the bottom.

  2. Also buttoned-down . (especially of attitudes, opinions, etc.) extremely conventional; unimaginative.

Origin of button-down

1
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use button-down in a sentence

  • He laid a common coat button down on the table, with a piece of cloth adhering.

    The Incendiary | W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy
  • "We'd better stop to button down the rain-curtains, Captain," advised Jim.

    Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks | Lillian Elizabeth Roy
  • She had tried long series of shorts, and, once, she had held the button down for a solid three minutes.

    The Night-Born | Jack London
  • All I took from Adelaide were a small set of scales capable of determining the weight of a button down to 20 ozs.

    Getting Gold | J. C. F. Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for button-down

button-down

adjective
  1. (of a collar) having points that are fastened to the garment with buttons

  2. (of a shirt) having a button-down collar

  1. Also: buttoned-down conventional or conservative: a button-down corporate culture

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012