buttock

Definition

Each of the two large fleshy halves of the posterior part of the body between the base of the back, the perineum, and the top of the legs.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English buttok, probably from Old English buttuc (“end; end piece”; also, “short piece of land”). Attested with its current anatomical meaning since 1300. A diminutive form of what is presumably the Old English precursor of butt + -ock (diminutive suffix).

Example Sentences

• "Run, run, come you hither / Novv, take all my Cuſhions dovvn and thvvack them ſoundly, / After my Feaſt of Millers: for their Buttocks / Have left a peck of flovver in them, beat them carefully […]"
• "There came a blast of freezing wind that made Skell shrug himself against the oaken post on which the ship's buttock rested."

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