Button Up (Verb)
Meaning
Refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent; "The children shut up when their father approached".
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Examples
- The kids buttoned up as soon as their mother demanded they stop arguing.
- When the principal entered the classroom, the students buttoned up and paid attention.
- When questioned by the suspicious police officer, the man buttoned up and called his lawyer.
- The eyewitnesses buttoned up after their names were leaked to the press.
- The noisy crowd buttoned up as the national anthem began to play.