buttonhole

For days as the historic floor fight played out, Mr. McCarthy had remained in his seat and dispatched allies to buttonhole the remaining holdouts privately.

From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2023

Camilla appeared to take a sprig of flowers and put it in her buttonhole, which can be seen in the Christmas card photograph.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2022

They have lunches, meet at conferences, buttonhole departmental women visitors, set up private Facebook pages and Slack channels, and are all over Twitter.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 25, 2022

This opens the floor to everyone who has ideas — not just those with the loudest voices or the chutzpah to buttonhole leaders in passing to pitch their ideas.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2022

There was a rose in his buttonhole, and the tip of his handkerchief, folded into a triangle, peeped out of his breast pocket.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

And his simple Quaker-like garb, which contrasts with Houdon’s use of classical references in other portraits, is rendered meticulously, down to the threads of the unused buttonholes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

The golf stories are narrated by the “oldest member” of an upper-class golf club who buttonholes unwary younger members to regale them with his memories of golfers he has known.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025

David Whelan said his brother must work at least eight hours a day, six days a week, on menial tasks like making buttonholes, which has caused him repetitive strain injury.

From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2022

This he tailored into surprisingly well-fitting shirts and pants, complete with pockets, belt loops, and properly sewn buttonholes.

From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2022

I notice that his shirt’s buttons are in the wrong buttonholes.

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

Clare buttonholed Archer and, according to his own account, the would-be candidate burst into tears and asked that the story be quashed.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Tegmark buttonholed Elon Musk at a 2014 MIT conference on space, after one of his students asked a question that prompted the billionaire’s now-famous quip that, with AI, “we are summoning the demon.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 2026

Resident Caroline Aguirre, a retired parole agent, said she buttonholed one courier trying to deliver a bag marked with the name James on it and explained the order wasn’t for her.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2023

Only one character in “Sign” identifies as Black, which surprised white critics who had buttonholed Hansberry as a writer devoted to Black characters.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023

And strangers who followed him about the streets and buttonholed him for unexplainable reasons.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Its tone and rhythms are oracular and epic, as if some ancient prophet is buttonholing you to tell you how the world has always been and will always be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

The trust acknowledged that Dr Sangala and Ms Kattenhorn were supportive of the buttonholing technique and had spoken about it at national and international conferences.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024

As Mr. Kennedy traveled the country giving speeches, he has said, mothers of intellectually disabled children began buttonholing him, pressing him to investigate vaccines.

From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2023

A young William Boeing showed up day after day, buttonholing every pilot he could for a skyride.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2023

I have never had the courage to solve my uncertainties by buttonholing a Frenchman and asking him what is the truth of the matter.

From Leaves from a Field Note-Book by John Hartman Morgan