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(bt), prep., adv. & conj.[OE. bute, buten, AS. btan, without, on the outside, except, besides; pref. be- + tan outward, without, fr. t out. Primarily, btan, as well as t, is an adverb. 198. See By, Out; cf. About.] 1. Except with; unless with; without. [Obs.] So insolent that he could not go but either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors. Fuller. Touch not the cat but a glove. Motto of the Mackintoshes. 2. Except; besides; save. Who can it be, ye gods! but perjured Lycon? E. Smith. In this sense, but is often used with other particles; as, but for, without, had it not been for. "Uncreated but for love divine." Young. 3. Excepting or excluding the fact that; save that; were it not that; unless; -- elliptical, for but that. And but my noble Moor is true of mind . . . it were enough to put him to ill thinking. Shak. 4. Otherwise than that; that not; -- commonly, after a negative, with that. It cannot be but nature hath some director, of infinite p But (), n.[Cf. But, prep., adv. & conj.] The outer apartment or kitchen of a two-roomed house; -- opposed to ben, the inner room. [Scot.] But n.[See 1st But.] 1. A limit; a boundary. 2. The end; esp. the larger or thicker end, or the blunt, in distinction from the sharp, end. See 1st Butt. But end, the larger or thicker end; as, the but end of a log; the but end of a musket. See Butt, n. But v. i.[imp. & p. p.Butted; p. pr. & vb. n.Butting.] See Butt, v., and Abut, v. Butt But} (), n.[F. but butt, aim (cf. butte knoll), or bout, OF. bot, end, extremity, fr. boter, buter, to push, butt, strike, F. bouter; of German origin; cf. OHG. bzan, akin to E. beat. See Beat, v. t.] 1. A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. Here is my journey's end, here my butt And very sea mark of my utmost sail. Shak. As applied to land, the word is nearly synonymous with mete, and signifies properly the end line or boundary; the abuttal. 2. The thicker end of anything. See But. 3. A mark to be shot at; a target. Sir W. Scott. The groom his fellow groom at butts defies, And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes. Dryden. 4. A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed; as, the butt of the company. I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart. Addison. 5. A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head of an animal; as, the butt of a ram. 6. A thrust in fencing. To prove who gave the fairer butt, John shows the chalk on R スポンサード リンク
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