unbutton

English

Etymology

From Middle English onbottonen, unbotonen; equivalent to un- +‎ button.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʌnˈbʌtən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ʌtən

Verb

unbutton (third-person singular simple present unbuttons, present participle unbuttoning, simple past and past participle unbuttoned)

(transitive, intransitive) To open (something) by undoing its buttons.
- 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
  Being now too high wound up to bear a delay, he unbutton'd, and drawing out the engine of love-assaults, drove it currently, as at a ready-made breach
(intransitive, ergative) To come open by having its buttons unfastened.
- 2010, Janet Chapman, Tempt Me If You Can, page 70:
  He was so muscled and firm, and the canvas shirt under his jacket unbuttoned easily.

Related terms

unbuttoned

Translations

(transitive)

Bulgarian: откопчавам (bg) f (otkopčavam)
Catalan: desbotonar (ca)
Finnish: avata napit
French: déboutonner (fr)
Galician: desabotoar (gl)
German: aufknöpfen (de)
Greek: ξεκουμπώνω (el) (xekoumpóno)
Ido: desbutonagar (io)
Italian: sbottonare (it)
Portuguese: desabotoar (pt)
Romanian: descheia (ro)
Spanish: desabotonar (es)
Swedish: knäppa upp
Turkish: çözmek (tr)