{ } n. [ F. but butt, aim (cf. butte knoll), or bout, OF. bot, end, extremity, fr. boter, buter, to push, butt, strike, F. bouter; of German origin; cf. OHG. bōzan, akin to E. beat. See Beat, v. t. ] 1. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here is my journey's end, here my butt
And very sea mark of my utmost sail. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As applied to land, the word is nearly synonymous with mete, and signifies properly the end line or boundary; the abuttal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The larger or thicker end of anything; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp end; as, the butt of a rifle. Formerly also spelled but. See 2nd but, n. sense 2. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

3. A mark to be shot at; a target. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

The groom his fellow groom at butts defies,
And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed; as, the butt of the company. [ 1913 Webster ]

I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head of an animal; as, the butt of a ram. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A thrust in fencing. [ 1913 Webster ]

To prove who gave the fairer butt,
John shows the chalk on Robert's coat. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field. [ 1913 Webster ]

The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mech.) (a) A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering; -- also called butt joint. (b) The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib. (c) The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Shipbuilding) The joint where two planks in a strake meet. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Carp.) A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, etc.; -- so named because fastened on the edge of the door, which butts against the casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Leather Trade) The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. The buttocks; as, get up off your butt and get to work; -- used as a euphemism, less objectionable than ass. [ slang ]
Syn. -- ass, rear end, derriere, behind, rump, heinie. [ PJC ]

Butt chain (Saddlery), a short chain attached to the end of a tug. --
Butt end. The thicker end of anything. See But end, under 2d But. [ 1913 Webster ]

Amen; and make me die a good old man!
That's the butt end of a mother's blessing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A butt's length, the ordinary distance from the place of shooting to the butt, or mark. --
Butts and bounds (Conveyancing), abuttals and boundaries. In lands of the ordinary rectangular shape, butts are the lines at the ends (F. bouts), and bounds are those on the sides, or sidings, as they were formerly termed. Burrill. --
Bead and butt. See under Bead. --
Butt and butt, joining end to end without overlapping, as planks. --
Butt weld (Mech.), a butt joint, made by welding together the flat ends, or edges, of a piece of iron or steel, or of separate pieces, without having them overlap. See Weld. --
Full butt, headfirst with full force. [ Colloq. ] “The corporal . . . ran full butt at the lieutenant.” Marryat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. botte, boute, LL. butta. Cf. Bottle a hollow vessel. ] A large cask or vessel for wine or beer. It contains two hogsheads. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A wine butt contains 126 wine gallons (= 105 imperial gallons, nearly); a beer butt 108 ale gallons (= about 110 imperial gallons). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The common English flounder. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Butted; p. pr. & vb. n. Butting. ] [ OE. butten, OF. boter to push, F. bouter. See Butt an end, and cf. Boutade. ] 1. To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut. [ Written also but. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To thrust the head forward; to strike by thrusting the head forward, as an ox or a ram. [ See Butt, n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A snow-white steer before thine altar led,
Butts with his threatening brows. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To strike by thrusting the head against; to strike with the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two harmless lambs are butting one the other. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Butt a bound. ] A detached low mountain, or high rising abruptly from the general level of the surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region. [ 1913 Webster ]

The creek . . . passes by two remarkable buttes of red conglomerate. Ruxton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. botere, butter, AS. butere, fr. L. butyrum, Gr. boy`turon; either fr. boy`s ox, cow + turo`s cheese; or, perhaps, of Scythian origin. Cf. Cow. ] 1. An oily, unctuous substance obtained from cream or milk by churning. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any substance resembling butter in degree of consistence, or other qualities, especially, in old chemistry, the chlorides, as butter of antimony, sesquichloride of antimony; also, certain concrete fat oils remaining nearly solid at ordinary temperatures, as butter of cacao, vegetable butter, shea butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

Butter boat, a small vessel for holding melted butter at table. --
Butter flower, the buttercup, a yellow flower. --
Butter print, a piece of carved wood used to mark pats of butter; -- called also butter stamp. Locke. --
Butter tooth, either of the two middle incisors of the upper jaw. --
Butter tree (Bot.), a tree of the genus Bassia, the seeds of which yield a substance closely resembling butter. The butter tree of India is the Bassia butyracea; that of Africa is the Shea tree (Bassia Parkii). See Shea tree. --
Butter trier, a tool used in sampling butter. --
Butter wife, a woman who makes or sells butter; -- called also butter woman. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Buttered (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Buttering. ] 1. To cover or spread with butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

I know what's what. I know on which side
My bread is buttered. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To increase, as stakes, at every throw or every game. [ Cant ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, butts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.(Bot.), a name given to several perennial plants having showy flowers of two shades of yellow, or of yellow and orange, such as Narcissus incomparabilis in Europe, and the toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) in the United States; the latter is a naturalized weed in North America.
Syn. -- toadflax, wild snapdragon, devil's flax, Linaria vulgaris. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]