Red Button
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
In the Chinese Empire a man- darin of the first class wore one of these as a badge of honour in his cap. Cp. PANJANDRUM.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tom pressed the red button to stop the machine.Tom đã ấn nút đỏ để dừng cỗ máy lại.
Tatoeba sentence #13916504 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
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 “Red Button” mean?
In the Chinese Empire a man- darin of the first class wore one of these as a badge of honour in his cap. Cp. PANJANDRUM.
Is “Red Button” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.