(Most of these are offensive terms, as will be seen when it is stated that puces = fleas; poux = lice, and so on.)
Buttoner, subs. (thieves').—A card-sharper's decoy, an equivalent of button, subs., sense 2. For synonyms, see Decoy-duck.
1841. Blackwood's Mag., L., 202. Buttoners are those accomplices of thimble-riggers . . . whose duty it is to act as flat-catchers or decoys, by personating flats. [m.]
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 446. To entice another to play—buttoner.
1860. Cornhill Mag., II., 334. Enticer of another to play—buttoner. [m.]
Button-On. To have a button on, phr. (printers').—To have a fit of the blues; to be despondent.—See Chopper on.
Button Pound, subs. (provincial).—Money. For synonyms generally, see Actual.
Buttons, subs. (common).—A page; sometimes rendered by boy in buttons. [In allusion to the numerous buttons which usually adorn the front of a page's jacket.]
1860. Thackeray, Lovel the Widower, p. 289. [Herein quoted as the name of a page.]
1873. Chambers' Jour., p. 605. Even the smallest boy in buttons would have been a retainer too costly for us.
1874. H. Mayhew, London Characters, p. 311. Others limit their views to a page, or 'buttons.'
1885. Ill. Lon. News, April 11, p. 376, col. 1. Such a man is only fit to be dressed like a buttons, and set to open the door to visitors who come to call on his family.
Dash or damn my buttons—wig, etc., phr. (general).—A mild oath, the word 'damn' often being represented by a dash. Ordinarily employed to express vexation or surprise.—See Oaths.
1860. Wm. Howard Russell, My Diary in India, I., p. 26. Darn my buttons if I haven't jest a mind to. . . .
Not to have all one's buttons, phr. (common).—To be deficient in intellect; slightly cracky; to have a bee in one's bonnet.—See Apartments to let.
To have a soul above buttons, phr. (common).—To be above one's work or duty; to think one's ability superior to one's position. [The quotation for 1795 to which Murray calls special attention would seem to indicate the possible origin of the phrase.]
1795. G. Colman, Sylv. Daggerwood, I. (1808), 10. My father was an eminent Button-Maker . . . but I had a soul above buttons . . . I panted for a liberal profession. [m].
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. i. But my father, who was a clergyman of the Church of England, and the youngest brother of a noble family, had a lucrative living and a soul above buttons, if his son had not.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, III., p. 93. If I were to say to Captain Crackthorpe, 'What pretty buttons!' he would be delighted. But you—you have a soul above buttons, I suppose.
To make buttons, phr. (old).—To look sorry; sad; to be in great fear.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 238. Thy witt already maketh buttons.
1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, IV., iii. Sam. O Soto, I make buttons!
Button Up, verb (American stock-*brokers').—When a broker has bought stock on speculation and it falls suddenly on his hands, whereby he is a loser, he keeps the matter to himself, and is
