Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BUT, n. [Fr. bout, end, extremity, and but, end, aim, design; Arm. but or baut. It is sometimes written butt, especially when applied to the end of a plank. It coincides, in sense and elements, with L. peto, Sp. bote, a thrust, botar, to cast, It. botta, botto, bottare, Fr. botte, bouder, Eng. pout, and many other words. See Butt.]

1. An end; a limit; a bound. It is used particularly for the larger end of a thing, as of a piece of timber, or of a fallen tree; that which grows nearest the earth. It is not often applied to the bound or limit of land; yet butted for bounded, is often used.
2. The end of a plank in a ship's side or bottom, which unites with another; generally written butt.
3. A mark or object of ridicule.
4. The foot of a play.