unbutton

From Middle English onbottonen, unbotonen; equivalent to un- +‎ button.

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈbʌtən/

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• Rhymes: -ʌtən

unbutton (third-person singular simple present unbuttons, present participle unbuttoning, simple past and past participle unbuttoned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To open (something) by undoing its buttons.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     Being now too high wound up to bear a delay, he unbutton'd, and drawing out the engine of love-assaults, drove it currently, as at a ready-made breach

2. (intransitive, ergative) To come open by having its buttons unfastened.
   • 2010, Janet Chapman, Tempt Me If You Can, page 70:

     He was so muscled and firm, and the canvas shirt under his jacket unbuttoned easily.

• unbuttoned