• Buck

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /bÊŒk/
    • Rhymes: -ÊŒk

    Origin 1

    From Middle English buc, bucke, bukke, from Old English buc, bucc, bucca ("he-goat, stag"), from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô ("buck") (compare West Frisian bok ("he-goat"), German Bock), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰug- ("ram") (compare Albanian buzë, Old Armenian բուծ (buc, "sucking lamb"), Persian بز (boz, "goat"), Sanskrit बुख).

    Full definition of buck

    Noun

    buck

    (plural bucks)
    1. A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the ferret and shad.
    2. (US) An uncastrated sheep, a ram.
    3. A young buck; an adventurous, impetuous, dashing, or high-spirited young man.
    4. (British, obsolete) A fop or dandy.
    5. (US, dated, derogatory) A black or Native American man.
    6. (Australia, US, informal) A dollar (one hundred cents).Can I borrow five bucks?
    7. (South Africa, informal) A rand (currency unit).
    8. (by extension, Australia, South Africa, US, informal) MoneyCorporations will do anything to make a buck
    9. (US, slang) One hundred.The police caught me driving a buck-forty on the freeway.That skinny guy? C'mon, he can't weigh more than a buck and a quarter.
    10. (dated) An object of various types, placed on a table to indicate turn or status; such as a brass object, placed in rotation on a US Navy wardroom dining table to indicate which officer is to be served first, or an item passed around a poker table indicating the dealer or placed in the pot to remind the winner of some privilege or obligation when his or her turn to deal next comes.
    11. (US, in certain metaphors or phrases) Blame; responsibility; scapegoating; finger-pointing.pass the buck; the buck stops here
    12. (UK, dialect) The body of a post mill, particularly in East Anglia. See Wikipedia:.
    13. (finance, jargon) One million dollars.
    14. (informal) A euro
    15. A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To copulate, as bucks and does.

    Origin 2

    From Middle Low German bucken ("to bend") or Middle Dutch bucken, bocken ("to bend"), intensive forms of Old Saxon būgan and Old Dutch *būgan ("to bend, bow"), from Proto-Germanic *būganą ("to bend"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ- ("to bend"). Cognate with German bücken ("to bend, stoop"), Danish bukke ("to buck"), Swedish bocka ("to bend, buck, bow"). In fluenced in some senses by buck ("male goat"). See above. Cf. bow.

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To bend; buckle.
    2. (intransitive, of a horse or similar saddle or pack animal) To leap upward arching its back, coming down with head low and forelegs stiff, forcefully kicking its hind legs upward, often in an attempt to dislodge or throw a rider or pack.
      • 1849, Jackey Jackey, The Statement of the Aboriginal Native Jackey Jackey, who Accompanied Mr. Kennedy, William Carron, Narrative of an Expedition Undertaken Under the Direction of the Late Mr. Assistant Surveyor E. B. Kennedy, 2004 Gutenberg Australia eBook #0201121,At the same time we got speared, the horses got speared too, and jumped and bucked all about, and got into the swamp.
    3. (transitive, of a horse or similar saddle or pack animal) To throw (a rider or pack) by bucking.
      • W. E. NorrisThe brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him out of the saddle.
    4. (transitive, military) To subject to a mode of punishment which consists of tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees.
    5. (intransitive, by extension) To resist obstinately; oppose or object strongly.The vice president bucked at the board's latest solution.
    6. (intransitive, by extension) To move or operate in a sharp, jerking, or uneven manner.The motor bucked and sputtered before dying completely.
    7. (transitive, by extension) To overcome or shed (e.g., an impediment or expectation), in pursuit of a goal; to force a way through despite (an obstacle); to resist or proceed against.The plane bucked a strong headwind.Our managers have to learn to buck the trend and do the right thing for their employees.John is really bucking the odds on that risky business venture. He's doing quite well.
    8. (riveting) To press a reinforcing device (bucking bar) against (the force of a rivet) in order to absorb vibration and increase expansion. See Wikipedia: .
    9. (forestry) To saw a felled tree into shorter lengths, as for firewood.

    Derived terms

    Origin 3

    See beech.

    Noun

    buck

    (plural bucks)
    1. (Scotland) The beech tree.

    Derived terms

    Origin 4

    Noun

    buck

    1. lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed
    2. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed.

    Verb

    1. To soak, steep or boil in lye or suds, as part of the bleaching process.
    2. To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.
    3. (mining) To break up or pulverize, as ores.
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