Buttonhole
WordNet
noun
(1) A hole through which buttons are pushed
verb
(2) Detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Originally buttonhold (a loop of string to hold a button down), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole; see the Wikipedia article on folk etymology
Noun
- A hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one.
- a flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration
Verb
- To detain (a person) in conversation against their will.
Quotations
- Here they are, the brainless few we had been raised to pity and fear, the Stone Age oafs and the seething runts and the ominous, swaggering weightlifters, buttonholing kids like me out on Chancellor Avenue and telling us to keep our baseball bats at the ready in case we were called in the night to take to the streets [...] — Philip Roth, "The Plot Against America" (2004)
- http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004291.html