| Button_Story | |
1. Button
a small, usually circular object used to fasten something, for example
a shirt or coat. In other words, a small, a generally disk-shaped fastener
used to join two parts of a garment by fitting through a button hole or
loop. Also such an object used for decoration.
| 2. History of button |
There is no clear document written about invention of button. Ancient dress
or sculptures are only hint to know the origin of button. It is said that
something natural object for example, born of shell or animal, seed of
tree or plant was used to fasten fur coat around B.C 1,500. The button
as an ornament was found as a prestige symbol in B.C. 4,000. They first
became widely used when fitted garments came into use in the 13th cent.,
and their popularity has varied with the changes in fashion. In the 16th
cent. they were magnificent and were classed among the vanities; made of
silver or gold and jeweled, they were often set in a long row touching
one another. In the 17th cent. cloth-covered buttons with embroidered decoration
were popular; buttons appeared on everything, even handkerchiefs. The Puritans,
considering buttons a vanity, used hooks and eyes. Early settlers in North
America often used buttons in trading with the indigenous peoples.
3. Word origin of Button
1265, from O.Fr. bouton, boton "a button, bud," from
bouter, boter "to thrust". Thus a button is, etymologically, something that pushes up, or
thrusts out. Button-hole is from 1561
4. Type of Button
Buttons, originally made of bronze or bone, have also been made of materials
such as metal, porcelain, paste, wood, ivory, horn, pearl, glass, and plastic.
There are two main types, those made with holes and those with shanks. The
latter have a loop of metal let in through a hole or soldered into place.