UNBUTTON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unbutton mean? 

• UNBUTTON (verb)
  The verb UNBUTTON has 1 sense:

1. undo the buttons of

  Familiarity information: UNBUTTON used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNBUTTON (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they unbutton    ... he / she / it unbuttons   
Past simple: unbuttoned   
Past participle: unbuttoned   
-ing form: unbuttoning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Undo the buttons of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

unbutton the shirt

Hypernyms (to "unbutton" is one way to...):

undo (cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

button (fasten with buttons)

 Context examples 

Whereupon I first unbuttoned my coat, and pulled it off.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Oh, indeed?” answered the little tailor, and unbuttoned his coat, and showed the giant the girdle, “there may you read what kind of a man I am!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A cold drizzle was falling, but he bared his head to it and unbuttoned his vest, swinging along in splendid unconcern.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He wore rather baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was in his library (I mean Doctor Strong was), with his clothes not particularly well brushed, and his hair not particularly well combed; his knee-smalls unbraced; his long black gaiters unbuttoned; and his shoes yawning like two caverns on the hearth-rug.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)