buttonhook

1 8.6

A small tool with a hook to pull buttons through buttonholes

noun
/ˈbʌtənˌhʊk/

Archaic

: gancho para botones

This time we won't need a buttonhook.

Examples

You do a buttonhook.

The Longest Yard (2005)
Let's do a buttonhook.

The Longshots (2008)
No, sir, his room is empty, except his buttonhook and his bag.

The Badlanders (1958)
Go fishing with a buttonhook?

Fiction book (2002)
No more buttonhooks in the kitchen.

The Game Plan (2007)
No more buttonhooks.

The Game Plan (2007)
Where's the buttonhook?

In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
She used a buttonhook to thread the buttons through the tiny holes in her blouse.
The elderly man reached for a buttonhook to help him fasten his coat.
After sewing the new shirt, she couldn't find her buttonhook to secure the buttons.

Surface Forms

buttonhook singular

buttonhooks plural

Morphology

buttonhook = button + hook (transparent) = button + hook

The word is a straightforward compound of 'button' + 'hook' meaning a hook used for buttons, which a learner knowing both components can readily infer.

Etymology

Buttonhook is a simple combination of button and hook, literally a small hook made to work with buttons. It was a little tool used to 'pull' buttons through tight buttonholes, so the name directly tells you it is a tool to help fasten buttons.