HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

buck¹

(bŭk)

a. A male deer.

b. The male of various other mammals, such as antelopes, kangaroos, mice, or rabbits.

c. Antelope considered as a group: a herd of buck.

a. A robust or high-spirited young man.

b. A fop.

3. Offensive A Native American or black man.

4. An act or instance of bucking: a horse that unseated its rider on the first buck.

a. Buckskin.

b. bucks Buckskin breeches or shoes.

v. bucked, buck·ing, bucks

v. intr.

1. To leap upward while arching the back: The horse bucked in fright.

2. To charge with the head lowered; butt.

3. To make sudden jerky movements; jolt: The motor bucked and lurched before it finally ran smoothly.

4. To resist stubbornly and obstinately; balk.

5. Informal To strive with determination: bucking for a promotion.

v. tr.

1. To throw or toss by bucking: buck off a rider; bucked the packsaddle off its back.

2. To oppose directly and stubbornly; go against: “Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the country, is bucking the trend” (American Demographics).

3. Football To charge into (an opponent's line) carrying the ball.

4. To butt against with the head.

adj.

Of the lowest rank in a specified military category: a buck private; a buck sergeant.

Phrasal Verb:

buck up

To summon one's courage or spirits; hearten: My friends tried to buck me up after I lost the contest.

[Middle English bukke, from Old English buc, male deer, and bucca, male goat.]

bucker n.

buck²

(bŭk)

1. A sawhorse or sawbuck.

2. A leather-covered frame used for gymnastic vaulting.

[Alteration (influenced by BUCK¹) of Dutch bok, male goat, trestle, from Middle Dutch boc.]

buck³

(bŭk)

1. Informal A dollar.

2. Informal An amount of money: working overtime to make an extra buck.

3. Slang

a. A large round amount of currency, especially a hundred dollars.

b. A hundred of some other units, especially miles per hour or pounds: was doing a buck twenty out on the Interstate; a boxer weighing in at a buck fifty.

[Short for BUCKSKIN (from its use in trade).]

buck⁴

(bŭk)

1. Games A counter or marker formerly passed from one poker player to another to indicate an obligation, especially one's turn to deal.

2. Informal Obligation to account for something; responsibility: tried to pass the buck for the failure to his boss.

tr.v. bucked, buck·ing, bucks
Informal

To pass (a task or duty) to another, especially so as to avoid responsibility: "We will see the stifling of initiative and the increased bucking of decisions to the top" (Winston Lord).

Idiom:

the buck stops here Informal

The ultimate responsibility rests here.

[Short for buckhorn knife (from its use as a marker in poker).]

Buck

(bŭk), Pearl Sydenstricker 1892-1973.

American writer whose life as a missionary in China lent a vivid immediacy to her novels, including The Good Earth (1931). She won the 1938 Nobel Prize for literature.

(click for a larger image)

Pearl S. Buck

photographed c. 1968

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

American Heritage Dictionary Products

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

THE USAGE PANEL

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

American Heritage Dictionary Products