[f. prec. sb.: in sense 2 app. altered from BUTTON-HOLD, which it has almost superseded.]
1. a. intr. To sew button-holes. b. trans. To sew with button-hole stitch.
1828. [see BUTTON-HOLING below].
1868. ‘Holme Lee,’ B. Godfrey, xli. 224. Whether button-holing and embroidering or not.
1882. Cassell’s Fam. Mag., XCVII. 44. Penwipers … button-holed round with silk.
2. trans. = BUTTON-HOLD.
1862. All Y. Round, VII. 28 June, 381. And there is the man who is button-holed, or held, poor wretch! and must listen to half an hour’s harangue about nothing interesting.
1868. H. Kingsley, Mathilde, II. 140. He went about button-holing and boring every one.
Hence Button-holing vbl. sb.
1828. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. III. (1863), 7. The … mysteries of stitching and button-holing.
1873. Daily News, 7 Nov., 5/5. They were subjected to a good deal of button-holing both by Parliamentary colleagues and outsiders.
1883. Standard, 6 Nov., 2/2. After button-holing, the uniform goes into the hands of the ‘finishers.’
