buckle

Meanings

Verb

• To distort or collapse under physical pressure; especially, of a slender structure in compression.
• To make bend; to cause to become distorted.
• To give in; to react suddenly or adversely to stress or pressure (of a person).
• To yield; to give way; to cease opposing.
• To enter upon some labour or contest; to join in close fight; to contend.
• To buckle down; to apply oneself.
• To fasten using a buckle.
• To unite in marriage.

Noun

• A clasp used for fastening two things together, such as the ends of a belt, or for retaining the end of a strap.
• The brisure of an eighth daughter.
• 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.
• A distortion, bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal.
• A curl of hair, especially a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.
• A contorted expression, as of the face.
• A cake baked with fresh fruit and a streusel topping.

Origin

• From a frequentative form of buck, 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"), dialectal German aufbückeln ("to raise or arch the back").
• Image:Palladium Plated Belt Buckle.jpg|thumb|right|A buckle (clasp for fastening).
• From Middle English bokel ("spiked metal ring for holding a belt, etc"), from Old French boucle, bocle, from Latin buccula ("cheek strap of a helmet"), diminutive of bucca.