button

button, knoblike appendage used on wearing apparel either for ornament or for fastening. Although buttons were sometimes used as fasteners by Greeks and Romans, they were more often merely ornamental disks. They first became widely used when fitted garments came into use in the 13th cent., and their popularity has varied with the changes in fashion. In the 16th cent. they were magnificent and were classed among the vanities; made of silver or gold and jeweled, they were often set in a long row touching one another. In the 17th cent. cloth-covered buttons with embroidered decoration were popular; buttons appeared on everything, even handkerchiefs. The Puritans, considering buttons a vanity, used hooks and eyes. Early settlers in North America often used buttons in trading with the indigenous peoples. The manufacture of buttons began in the United States c.1826. Buttons, originally made of bronze or bone, have also been made of materials such as metal, porcelain, paste, wood, ivory, horn, pearl, glass, and plastic. There are two main types, those made with holes and those with shanks. The latter have a loop of metal let in through a hole or soldered into place.

Bibliography

See D. Epstein and M. Safro, Buttons (1991); D. J. Wisniewski, Antique & Collectible Buttons (1997).

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button

Small disk or knob used as a fastener or ornament. It usually has holes or a shank through which it is sewn to one side of a garment. It is used to fasten or close the garment when it is passed through a loop or hole in the other side. The ancient Greeks fastened their tunics with buttons and loops. In medieval Europe, garments were laced or fastened together with brooches or clasps until the buttonhole was reinvented in the 13th century. Throughout history, buttons have been made in a range of sizes and materials, some elaborated into miniature works of art.

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(1) A knob, such as on a printer or a mouse, which is pushed with the finger to activate a function.

(2) A simulated button on screen that is "pushed" by clicking it with the mouse.

On-screen Button

The button on the left is in its normal state. The one on the right has been depressed. When a button is clicked, it simulates the physical depression of a real button by offsetting the icon a few pixels and switching the shadow lines from the right and bottom to the top and left edges.

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1.	(electronics)	button - push-button.
2.	(operating system)	button - A graphical representation of an electrical push-button appearing as part of a graphical user interface. Moving the mouse pointer over the graphical button and pressing one of the physical mouse buttons starts some software action such as closing a window or deleting a file. See also radio button.