n. [ OE. bocle buckle, boss of a shield, OF. bocle, F. boucle, boss of a shield, ring, fr. L. buccula a little cheek or mouth, dim. of bucca cheek; this boss or knob resembling a cheek. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A distortion bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled. [ 1913 Webster ]

Earlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A contorted expression, as of the face. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

'Gainst nature armed by gravity,
His features too in buckle see. Churchill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Buckled p. pr. & vb. n. Buckling. ] [ OE. boclen, F. boucler. See Buckle, n. ] 1. To fasten or confine with a buckle or buckles; as, to buckle a harness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bend; to cause to kink, or to become distorted. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To prepare for action; to apply with vigor and earnestness; -- formerly, generally used reflexively, but by mid 20th century, usually used with down; -- as, the programmers buckled down and worked late hours to finish the project in time for the promised delivery date. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Cartwright buckled himself to the employment. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To join in marriage. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To bend permanently; to become distorted; to bow; to curl; to kink. [ 1913 Webster ]

Buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bend out of a true vertical plane, as a wall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To yield; to give way; to cease opposing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enter upon some labor or contest; to join in close fight; to struggle; to contend. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he was with him. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In single combat thou shalt buckle with me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To buckle to, to bend to; to engage with zeal. [ 1913 Webster ]

To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before buckling to my winter's work. J. D. Forbes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bocler, OF. bocler, F. bouclier, a shield with a boss, from OF. bocle, boucle, boss. See Buckle, n. ] 1. A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, worn on one of the arms (usually the left) for protecting the front of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the sword and buckler play of the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used, not to cover the body, but to stop or parry blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) One of the large, bony, external plates found on many ganoid fishes. (b) The anterior segment of the shell of trilobites. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A block of wood or plate of iron made to fit a hawse hole, or the circular opening in a half-port, to prevent water from entering when the vessel pitches. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blind buckler (Naut.), a solid buckler. --
Buckler mustard (Bot.), a genus of plants (Biscutella) with small bright yellow flowers. The seed vessel on bursting resembles two bucklers or shields. --
Buckler thorn, a plant with seed vessels shaped like a buckler. See Christ's thorn. --
Riding buckler (Naut.), a buckler with a hole for the passage of a cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To shield; to defend. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a head like a buckler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (a) A kind of purchase for hoisting or lowering a cylindrical burden, as a cask. The middle of a long rope is made fast aloft, and both parts are looped around the object, which rests in the loops, and rolls in them as the ends are hauled up or payed out. (b) A double sling made of a single rope, for slinging a cask, gun, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Parbuckled p. pr. & vb. n. Parbuckling ] To hoist or lower by means of a parbuckle. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bullying and violent person; a braggart; a swashbuckler. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That flock of stout, bragging rushbucklers. Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bully or braggadocio; a swaggering, boastful fellow; a swaggerer. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A swashbuckler; a bully; a roisterer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mech.) (a) A loop or sleeve with a screw thread at one end and a swivel at the other, -- used for tightening a rod, stay, etc. (b) A gravitating catch, as for fastening a shutter, the end of a chain, or a hasp. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + buckle. ] To loose the buckles of; to unfasten; as, to unbuckle a shoe. “Unbuckle anon thy purse.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]