abut (v.)
mid-13c., "to end at, to border on, touch at the end," from Old French aboter, abuter "join end to end, touch with an end" (13c.), and abouter "join end to end," from à "to" (see ad-) + boter, bouter "to strike, push," from a Germanic source (ultimately from PIE root *bhau- "to strike"). Compare butt (v.). Related: Abutted; abutting.
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"hit with the head, strike by thrusting" (as with the end of a beam or thick stick), c. 1200, from Anglo-French buter, Old French boter "push, shove, knock; thrust against," from Frankish or another Germanic source (compare Old Norse bauta, Low German boten "to strike, beat"), from Proto-Germanic *butan, from PIE root *bhau- "to strike."
The meaning "join at the end, be contiguous" is from 1660s, partly a shortening of abut. To butt in "rudely intrude" is American English slang, attested from 1900. Related: Butted; butting.
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updated on September 12, 2022