Word.ws English Dictionary

button hole

button hole is the alternative form of buttonhole.

Meaning of buttonhole

Noun

buttonhole (plural buttonholes)

  1. A hole through which a button is pushed to secure a garment or some part of one.
  2. (UK) A flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration.
    Synonyms:
    boutonniere
    1. (UK, attributive) So shaped that it can be worn on a buttonhole or it is similar to a buttonhole.
  3. A small slotlike cut or incision, made for example by an accident with the scalpel.
    • The usual cause of conjunctival buttonholes is penetration of the tissue by the tip of a sharp instrument […]2011, George L. Spaeth, Helen Danesh-Meyer, Ivan Goldberg, Ophthalmic Surgery: Principles and Practice E-Book, page 220
  4. The mouth, nose or eyes of a tiny appearance.
  5. (obsolete) The vagina, a coin slot.

See all 13 meanings of buttonhole

Forms of button hole

pluralbutton holes

Questions about button hole

What is button hole the alternative form of?
Button hole is the alternative form of buttonhole.

Words near button hole in the dictionary

  1. button ear
  2. button ears
  3. button fish
  4. button fishes
  5. button grass
  6. button hole
  7. button holes
  8. button it
  9. button lift
  10. button lifts
  11. button lock

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: button hole (page history and authors); buttonhole (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “button hole.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/button_hole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.