Word.ws English Dictionary

prebutton

prebutton noun: a precursor to a rattle found on newborn rattlesnakes.

Noun

prebutton (plural prebuttons)

  1. A precursor to a rattle found on newborn rattlesnakes.
    • Before concluding the discussion of rattle width, we should make mention of the prebutton, the rattle with which every young snake is born, but which, unlike the true button, is shed and lost with the young snake's first change of skin a week or so after birth.1972, Laurence M. Klauber, Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind
    • All species of rattlesnakes are viviparous and are born with a laterally compressed keratinized prebutton on the tip of the tail. A few days after birth the snake sheds it skin and loses the prebutton, which is replaced by the first rattle segment, or button.2002, Jay M. Savage, The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica

Forms of prebutton

pluralprebuttons

Questions about prebutton

What does prebutton mean?
Prebutton means a precursor to a rattle found on newborn rattlesnakes.
What part of speech is prebutton?
Prebutton is a noun.
What is the plural of prebutton?
The plural of prebutton is prebuttons.

Words near prebutton in the dictionary

  1. prebuttal
  2. prebuttals
  3. prebutted
  4. prebuttered
  5. prebutting
  6. prebutton
  7. prebuttons
  8. prebuy
  9. prebuying
  10. prebuyout
  11. prebuys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prebutton (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: “prebutton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prebutton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.