button-holdv.
/ˈbʌtnhəʊld/, U.S. /ˈbətnˌhoʊld/ transitive. To accost (a person) and detain him or her in conversation as if by taking hold of a button on his or her clothing, frequently (later esp. in U.S. political contexts) so as to persuade or influence him or her. Cf. buttonhole v. 1. Now rare.buttonhole is now the more usual term.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > utter in a chattering manner [verb (transitive)] > talk excessively to
word1602
to take (also seize, etc.) (a person) by the button1710
button-hold1838
buttonhole1848
to bend a person's ear1938
ear-bash1944
1838 Monthly Mag. Jan. 68 I can now walk abroad at my ease,..without any apprehensions of being..button-held and prosed to.
1858 W. E. Gladstone Stud. Homer I. i. iii. 27 Patroclus..is (to use the modern phrase) button-held by Nestor..and..is obliged to endure a speech of a hundred and fifty-two lines.
1880 Home Jrnl. (N.Y.) 21 Jan. Charles Lamb, being button-held one day by Coleridge..cut off the button.
1914 Textile Worker Jan. 17/2 Their paid hirelings about this Capitol buttonholding Members of Congress, striving to induce them to remain away from the Chamber when a vote was being taken.
1966 Daily Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) 3 June 6 a/3 Schulberg, chief lobbyist.., is now busy button-holding Democrats to try to overrule the Republican amendment.
1983 N.Y. Amsterdam News 26 Mar. 16/2 Jackson hung around in the hospital and outside, button-holding any one he thought could help.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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v.1838