[f. BUTT v.1; cf. F. botte a thrust in fencing.] A push or thrust with the head or with the horns of horned animals.
1647. H. More, Poems, 58. The fiercest but of Ram no’te make them [the walls] fall.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 80. [One of the ewes] has selected her own [lamb] and given her a gentle butt.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xlii. (1879), 261. Then fighting Tom [a sheep] jumped up at once, and made a little butt at Watch.
b. A thrust or stroke in fencing. rare.
a. 1721. Prior, Alma, I. 199. If disputes arise … To prove who gave the fairer butt, John shows the chalk on Robert’s coat.
