Definition of "buttonhole" [but•ton•hole]

• A small slit in a garment or piece of fabric for fastening a button. (noun)
• Chiefly British A boutonniere. (noun)
• To make a buttonhole in. (verb-transitive)
• To sew with a buttonhole stitch. (verb-transitive)
• To accost and detain (a person) in conversation by or as if by grasping the person's outer garments: "He was also frequently buttonholed by White House lobbyists . . . who seemed to be permanently assigned to shadow the burly Democrat” ( Terence Moran). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I can embroider names on baby blankets (my favorite baby gift to give), there are several different 'fancy' stitches, the buttonhole is very easy to use, you can attach a walking foot for quilting and you can also buy cards with embroidery designs to use in the machine."
• "There's a scattering of French knots at the top and I even used a little blanket stitch (buttonhole) on the middle ribbon - buttonhole is the second week's challenge, so you'll be seeing more of that soon."
• "Corrigan took a sip of coffee, noting that today the flower in the buttonhole was a particularly brilliant red."