Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Button

A decoy in an auction- room; so called because he buttons or ties the unwary to bargains offered for sale. The button fastens or fixes what else would slip away.

The button of the cap.
The tip-top. Thus, in Hamlet, Guildenstern says: “On fortune's cap we are not the very button” (act ii. sc. 2), i.e. the most highly favoured. The button on the cap was a mark of honour. Thus, in China to the present hour, the first grade of literary honour is the privilege of adding a gold button to the cap, a custom adopted in several collegiate schools of England. This gives the expression quoted a further force. Also, the several grades of mandarins are distinguished by a different coloured button on the top of their cap.

Button (of a foil).
The piece of cork fixed to the end of a foil to protect the point and prevent injury in fencing.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Buttons
Butterfly Kiss
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