buck
pronunciation
How to pronounce buck in British English:
UK [bʌk]
How to pronounce buck in American English:
US [bʌk]
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- Noun:
- a gymnastic horse without pommels and with one end elongated; used lengthwise for vaulting
- a piece of paper money worth one dollar
- a framework for holding wood that is being sawed
- mature male of various mammals (especially deer or antelope)
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- Verb:
- to strive with determination
- resist
- move quickly and violently
- jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched
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- Adjective:
- of the lowest rank in a category
Word Origin
- buck
- buck: [OE] Old English had two related words which have coalesced into modern English buck: bucca ‘male goat’ and buc ‘male deer’. Both go back to a prehistoric Germanic stem *buk-, and beyond that probably to an Indo-European source. The 18th-century meaning ‘dashing fellow’ probably comes ultimately from the related Old Norse bokki, a friendly term for a male colleague, which was originally adopted in English in the 14th century meaning simply ‘fellow’. The colloquial American sense ‘dollar’ comes from an abbreviation of buckskin, which was used as a unit of trade with the Native Americans in Frontier days.=> butcher
- buck (n.1)
- "male deer," c. 1300, earlier "male goat;" from Old English bucca "male goat," from Proto-Germanic *bukkon (cognates: Old Saxon buck, Middle Dutch boc, Dutch bok, Old High German boc, German Bock, Old Norse bokkr), perhaps from a PIE root *bhugo (cognates: Avestan buza "buck, goat," Armenian buc "lamb"), but some speculate that it is from a lost pre-Germanic language. Barnhart says Old English buc "male deer," listed in some sources, is a "ghost word or scribal error." Meaning "dollar" is 1856, American English, perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748. Pass the buck is first recorded in the literal sense 1865, American English:The 'buck' is any inanimate object, usually knife or pencil, which is thrown into a jack pot and temporarily taken by the winner of the pot. Whenever the deal reaches the holder of the 'buck', a new jack pot must be made. [J.W. Keller, "Draw Poker," 1887]Perhaps originally especially a buck-handled knife. The figurative sense of "shift responsibility" is first recorded 1912. Buck private is recorded by 1870s, of uncertain signification.
- buck (v.)
- 1848, apparently with a sense of "jump like a buck," from buck (n.1). Related: Bucked; bucking. Buck up "cheer up" is from 1844.
- buck (n.2)
- "sawhorse," 1817, American English, apparently from Dutch bok "trestle."
Example
- 1. Ms yingluck insists that the buck stops with her .
- 2. Man poached buck that would have ranked 4th largest in ohio history .
- 3. But it 's not a question of tone : does the buck really stop only with him ?
- 4. In astrazeneca 's view , not paying the recruitment bonus until after a probation period is tantamount to management passing the buck .
- 5. Shortly after midday on january 20th , barack obama will sit for the first time at the desk where the buck stops .