buckle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A clasp for fastening two ends, as of straps or a belt, in which a device attached to one of the ends is fitted or coupled to the other.
2. n. An ornament that resembles this clasp, such as a metal square on a shoe or hat.
3. n. An instance of bending, warping, or crumpling; a bend or bulge.
4. v. To fasten with a buckle.
5. v. To cause to bend, warp, or crumple.
6. v. To become fastened with a buckle.
7. v. To bend, warp, or crumple, as under pressure or heat.
8. v. To give way; collapse: My knees buckled with fear.
9. v. To succumb, as to exhaustion or authority; give in: finally buckled under the excessive demands of the job.
10. buckle down To apply oneself with determination.
11. buckle up To use a safety belt, especially in an automobile.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To bend; bow.
2. To curl; become wrinkled; shrivel up.
3. To yield assent; agree: with to: as, I can't buckle to that.
4. To bend to something; apply one's self with vigor; engage in with zeal: with to: as, “go, buckle to the law,”
5. To enter upon some labor or contest; struggle; contend: with with.
6. To bend; curl; shrivel as by the application of heat.
7. n. A bend, bulge, or kink, as in a saw-blade.
8. n. A contorted expression of the face.
9. n. Any curl of hair, especially a long curl carefully arranged, and turned toward the head, worn by women in the eighteenth century.
10. n. The condition of being curled, as of hair.
11. n. A clasp consisting of a rectangular or curved rim, with one or more movable tongues secured to the chape at one side or in the middle, and long enough to rest upon the opposite side: used for fastening together two straps or belts or the ends of the same strap, or for some similar purpose. It is sewed or otherwise fastened to one band or end, and the other is passed through it, being kept from slipping by the tongue or tongues. Buckles for use in dress have often been made highly ornamental, especially for shoes. See shoe-buckle.
12. n. In heraldry, same as arming-buckle.
13. n. An iron loop for fastening the blade to the frame of a wood-saw.
14. To fasten with a buckle or buckles.
15. To prepare for action of any kind (a metaphor taken from buckling on armor previous to engaging in battle); hence, to set vigorously to work at anything: with a reflexive pronoun.
16. To join in battle.
17. To confine or limit.
18. To join together; unite in marriage.
19. To marry.
20. To do up (the hair) in curlpapers; curl; crimp. See buckle, n., 3.

Wiktionary

1. n. countable A clasp used for fastening two things together, such as the ends of a belt, or for retaining the end of a strap.
2. n. Canada, heraldry The brisure of an eighth daughter.
3. n. roofing An upward, elongated displacement of a roof membrane frequently occurring over insulation or deck joints. A buckle may be an indication of movement with the roof assembly.
4. v. transitive To fasten using a buckle.
5. v. intransitive To distort or collapse under physical pressure; especially, of a slender structure in compression.
6. v. intransitive, figuratively To give in; to react suddenly or adversely to stress or pressure (of a person).
7. v. intransitive To yield; to give way; to cease opposing.
8. v. obsolete, intransitive To enter upon some labour or contest; to join in close fight; to contend.
9. v. To buckle down; to apply oneself.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A device, usually of metal, consisting of a frame with one more movable tongues or catches, used for fastening things together, as parts of dress or harness, by means of a strap passing through the frame and pierced by the tongue.
2. n. A distortion bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal.
3. n. A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.
4. n. rare A contorted expression, as of the face.
5. v. To fasten or confine with a buckle or buckles.
6. v. To bend; to cause to kink, or to become distorted.
7. v. To prepare for action; to apply with vigor and earnestness; -- formerly, generally used reflexively, but by mid 20th century, usually used with down; -- .
8. v. Scot. To join in marriage.
9. v. To bend permanently; to become distorted; to bow; to curl; to kink.
10. v. To bend out of a true vertical plane, as a wall.
11. v. obsolete To yield; to give way; to cease opposing.
12. v. To enter upon some labor or contest; to join in close fight; to struggle; to contend.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. bend out of shape, as under pressure or from heat
2. n. fastener that fastens together two ends of a belt or strap; often has loose prong
3. v. fasten with a buckle or buckles
4. v. fold or collapse
5. n. a shape distorted by twisting or folding