Buckle

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒkÉ™l

From a frequentative form of buck ("to bend, buckle"), of Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German origin, related to Dutch bukken ("to stoop, bend, yield, submit"), German bücken ("to stoop, bend"), Swedish bocka ("to buck, bow"), equivalent to buck + -le. Compare Middle Dutch buchelen ("to strive, tug under a load"), German dialectal aufbückeln ("to raise or arch the back").

Full definition of buckle

Verb

1. (intransitive) To distort or collapse under physical pressure; especially, of a slender structure in compression.
• 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012)Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.
2. (transitive) To make bend; to cause to become distorted.
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To give in; to react suddenly or adversely to stress or pressure (of a person).It is amazing that he has never buckled after so many years of doing such urgent work.
4. (intransitive) To yield; to give way; to cease opposing.
• Samuel PepysThe Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle.
5. (obsolete, intransitive) To enter upon some labour or contest; to join in close fight; to contend.
• LatimerThe bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he was with him.
• ShakespeareIn single combat thou shalt buckle with me.
6. To buckle down; to apply oneself.
• BarrowTo make our sturdy humour buckle thereto.
• J. D. ForbesBefore buckling to my winter's work.
• FullerCartwright buckled himself to the employment.

• Noun: Old French bocle, from Latin buccula ("cheek strap of a helmet"), diminutive of bucca ("cheek").
• Verb: bokelen "to arch the body," from Middle French boucler ("to bulge"), from Old French bocler ("to bulge, curl"), from bocle ("boss of a shield").

Noun

1. (countable) A clasp used for fastening two things together, such as the ends of a belt, or for retaining the end of a strap.
2. (Canada, heraldry) The brisure of an eighth daughter.
3. (roofing) An upward, elongated displacement of a roof membrane frequently occurring over insulation or deck joints. A buckle may be an indication of movement with the roof assembly.
4. A distortion, bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal.
5. A curl of hair, especially a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.
• Washington Irvingearlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face
• Addisonlets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year
6. A contorted expression, as of the face.
• Churchill'Gainst nature armed by gravity,
  His features too in buckle see.

Verb

1. (transitive) To fasten using a buckle.
2. (Scotland) To unite in marriage.

Anagrams

• Lübeck