buckle

noun

1. A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the belt together or to secure the strap to something else.

   “Svveet Hellen I muſt vvoe you, / To helpe vn-arme our Hector: his ſtubborne bucles / VVith this your vvhite enchaunting fingers touch; / Shall more obey then to the edge of ſteele, / Or force of Greekiſh ſinevves: […]”

   “Tongue of my shoe-buckle broke. […] Bought a new head to my cane, and a tongue to my buckle. Drank a glass of purl to recover appetite.”

   “My uncle furthermore remarked that it wore high heeled shoes, after an ancient fashion, with paste or diamond buckles, that sparkled as though they were alive.”

2. (broadly)A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the belt together or to secure the strap to something else.

   “He must be forging the buckle-screw, sir, now. […] Carpenter, when he's through with that buckle, tell him to forge a pair of steel shoulder-blades; there's a pedlar aboard with a crushing pack.”

3. (Canada)A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the belt together or to secure the strap to something else.
4. A great conflict or struggle.
5. (countable)A distortion; a bend, bulge, or kink.

   “We can’t use that saw any more. It’s got a buckle in its blade.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A distortion; a bend, bulge, or kink.
7. (Canada, US, countable)Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a cake baked with fresh fruit (often blueberries) and a streusel topping.
8. (countable, obsolete)A curl of hair, especially a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also (countable, uncountable), the state of hair being curled in this manner.

   “The greatest beau at our next county sessions was dressed in a most monstrous flaxen periwig, that was made in king William's reign. The wearer of it goes, it seems, in his own hair when he is at home, and lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year, that he may put it on upon occasion to meet the judges in it.”

   “For vvhat's a VVoman, vvhen her Virtue's gone? / A Coat vvithout its Lace; VVig out of Buckle; / A Stocking vvith a Hole in't.”

   “That live-long VVig vvhich Gorgon's ſelf might ovvn, / Eternal buckle takes in Parian ſtone.”

   “Those that have by Nature ſoft, thin, and ſhort Hair, vvhich, vvith great Difficulty, receives or retains a Buckle, and thoſe vvho readily run into Baldneſs or ſhedding of the Hair tovvards the Spring, are certainly of a looſe, flabby, and relaxed State of Nerves: […]”

   “Obſerve his ſtiff affected mein, / 'Gainſt Nature arm'd by Gravity, / His features too in buckle ſee, […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To fasten (something) using a buckle (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1); hence (obsolete), to fasten (something) in any way.

   “Iuſt. [i.e., the Lord Chief Justice, William Gascoigne] VVel, the truth is ſir Iohn, you liue in great infamy. / Falſt[aff]. He that buckles himſelfe in my belt cannot liue in leſſe.”

   “[H]ovv briefe the Life of man / runs his erring pilgrimage, / That the ſtretching of a ſpan, / buckles in his ſumme of age.”

   “It is a ſigne that a man hath to doe vvith a ſtrong enemie vvhen he buckleth on all his harneſſe, and calleth together all his ſtrength for oppoſition.”

   “[T]here vvere tvvo ſtrong Staples fixed upon that ſide of my Box vvhich had no VVindovv, and into vvhich the Servant vvho uſed to carry me on horſeback vvoud put a leathern Belt, and buckle it about his VVaſte.”

   “Buckle this harness on, that, being armed, / I may defend the entrance.”

2. (figuratively, reflexive, transitive)To apply (oneself) to, or prepare (oneself) for, a task or work; also (obsolete), to equip (oneself) for a battle, expedition, etc.

   “For this cauſe whẽ the faithfull find themſelues to haue ouercome Satan in one incounter by the grace of Chriſt, let them take good heede that they imagin not their battel to be at an end: but rather let them buckle themſelues to a new charge, and valiantly aduance themſelues to handſtrokes againe.”

   “He left his lofty ſteede to aide him neare, / And buckling ſoone him ſelfe, gan fiercely fly / Vppon that Carle, to ſaue his friend from ieopardy.”

   “To be breef, haukes ſeeme not to differ, ſaue that all of them doe not flie at all kinde of birds and foules alike, for in deede euery one of them buckleth himſelfe vnto the bird, to the flying vvhereof he is giuen and addicted, and not to others.”

   “Hereupon [Thomas] Cartwright buckled himself to the employment, and was very forward in the pursuance thereof.”

   “It chargeth on us contentedly and patiently to undergo whatever God doth impose of burden or sufferance, so that 'patience have its perfect work;' and it is a crabbed work to bend our stiff inclinations, to quell our refractory passions, to make our sturdy humour buckle thereto.”

3. (British, figuratively, transitive)To unite (people) in marriage; to marry.

   “[T]ake my advice, and marry in the firſt place vvhere vve can find a curate; or make uſe of our friend the licentiate, vvho vvill buckle you handſomely.”

   “They were hailed […] as a young strapping Irishman, conveying an ancient maiden to Dr Rigmarole's at Redriffe, who buckles beggars for a tester and a dram of Geneva.”

4. (figuratively, intransitive)To apply oneself to or prepare for a task or work.

   “Sir John diſdainfully looking at him, ſaluted him vvith theſe VVords, Farevvel Sir Knave, (for it is to be noted that it is common vvith him to term many honeſt Men ſo). My Brother anſvvered, Sir, You are no leſs. VVhereat one of Sir John’s Men buckled to fight vvith him. But Sir John ſtayed his Man.”

   “The firſt thing vve doe in the morning before vve either eate or drink, or buckle about any vvorldly buſineſſe, is to put our clothes about vs: vve ſay, vve are not ready, till vve haue done that.”

   “[For a man] to be deceiued, vvith too long Shadovves, […] And ſo to ſhoot off before the time; Or to teach dangers to come on, by ouer early Buckling tovvards them, is another Extreme.”

   “[T]he Epicure buckles to ſtudy, vvhen ſhame, or the deſire to recommend himſelf to his Miſtreſs, ſhall make him uneaſie in the vvant of any ſort of knovvledge.”

   “At laſt Eſquire South buckl'd to, to aſſiſt his Friend Nic.”

5. (British, figuratively, intransitive)To unite with someone in marriage; to marry.

   “Yet thou, they ſay, for Marriage do'ſt provide: / Is this an Age to Buckle vvith a Bride?”

6. (dialectal, figuratively, intransitive)To participate in some contest or labour; to join in close fight; to contend.

   “So they buckled together, and the Heithen were diſcomfited, and fled ouer the playne felde: but the hynmoſt of them were ſlayne.”

   “VVell, it chanced that the Lord Protector [Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester] and he [Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester] fell out, and the Biſhop vvould bear nothing at all vvith him, but played me the Satrapa; ſo the Regent of France vvas fain to be ſent for from beyond the ſeas, to ſet them at one, and go betvveen them: For the Biſhop vvas as able and ready to buckle vvith the Lord Protector as he vvas vvith him.”

   “In ſingle Combat thou ſhalt buckle vvith me; / And if thou vanquiſheſt, thy vvords are true, / Othervviſe I renounce all confidence.”

   “[B]eing armed vvith patience vvhen thou buckleſt vvith affliction or pouertie, hunger, or any croſſe ſoeuer thou canſt ſay, it is nothing to ouercome them.”

   “And as the vvhole armies vvere thus engag'd, and each man cloſely buckl'd to his antagoniſt, the battles vvere commonly very bloody, and great ſlaughter made on both ſides, but eſpecially on the vanquiſh'd.”

7. (transitive)To cause (something) to bend, or to become distorted.

   “[R]eaſon doth buckle and bovve the Mind vnto the Nature of things.”

   “Throw all their ſcandalous malice upon me? / 'Cauſe I am poor, deform'd and ignorant, / And like a Bow buckl'd and bent together, / By ſome more ſtrong in miſchiefs then my ſelf?”

8. (obsolete, transitive)To curl (hair).
9. (intransitive)Of a thing (especially a slender structure under compression): to collapse or distort under physical pressure.

   “And as the vvretch vvhoſe feuer-vveakned ioynts, / Like ſtrengthleſſe hinges buckle vnder life, / […] euen ſo my limbes, / VVeakened vvith griefe, being novv enragde vvith griefe, / Are thrice themſelues: […]”

   “And thus by placing Collers vvhere ever they find the VVork buckle, they (as aforeſaid) vvith Sharp Tools, tender touches, ſomevvhat a looſe and fine String, vveak Bovv, and great care and diligence vvork the vvhole Cilinder dovvn as ſmall as they liſt, either vvith Moldings or other VVork upon it, as beſt likes them.”

   “Sideways leaning, we sideways darted; every ropeyarn tingling like a wire; the two tall masts buckling like Indian canes in land tornadoes.”

   “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.”

10. (figuratively, intransitive)Of a person: to (suddenly) cease resisting pressure or stress; to give in or give way, to yield.

    “It is amazing that he has never buckled after so many years of doing such urgent work.”

    “Mr. Gray did tell me to-night, for certain, that the Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle; and that one man in this Kingdom did tell the King that he is offered £40,000 to make a peace, and others have been offered money also.”

name

1. A surname originating as an occupation for a maker or seller of buckles.