bachelor's buttons
Preserved but no longer current.
Several flowers are so called. Red batchelor's buttons, the double red campion; yellow, the upright crowfoot; white, the white ranunculus, or white campion. The similitude these flowers have to the jagged cloath buttons anciently worne . . . gave occasion ... to call them Bachelor's Buttons.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “bachelor's buttons” mean?
Several flowers are so called. Red batchelor's buttons, the double red campion; yellow, the upright crowfoot; white, the white ranunculus, or white campion. The similitude these flowers have to the jagged cloath buttons anciently worne . . . gave occasion ... to call them Bachelor's Buttons.
Is “bachelor's buttons” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.