buck Definition

buck¹
noun bucks, buck (plural in senses 1 and 2 only)

1. A male animal, especially a male deer, goat, antelope, rabbit, hare or kangaroo. Compare doe.
2. An antelope.

Example: water buck
3. An act of bucking.

Example: The horse gave a huge buck
4. old use
A lively fashionably-dressed young man.

verb bucked, bucking

intr
1. Said of a horse, etc: to make a series of rapid jumps into the air, with the back arched and legs held stiff, especially in an attempt to throw off a rider.
2. Said of a horse, etc: to throw (a rider) from its back in this way.
3. colloq
To oppose or resist (an idea or trend, etc).

Derivative: bucker
noun

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon buc or bucca.

Phrasal Verb: buck up

To become more cheerful.To hurry up.

Phrasal Verb: buck someone up

To make them more cheerful.

Phrasal Verb: buck something up

To improve or liven up (one's ways or ideas, etc).

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buck²
noun

colloq:
(N Amer)
(Austral)
(NZ)
1. A dollar.
(S Afr)
2. A rand.

Idiom: make a fast buck (make a quick buck)

To make money quickly or easily, and often dishonestly.

Etymology: 19c: perhaps from buckskin, because deerskins were used as a unit of exchange by Native Americans and frontiersmen in the 19c US.

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buck³
noun

1a. cards.
In the game of poker: a token object placed before the person who is to deal the next hand and start the next jackpot, having won the previous one;
1b. cards.
A counter or marker.
2. colloq
Responsibility, especially that of dealing with a problem.

Idiom: pass the buck

colloq
To shift the responsibility for something on to someone else.

Idiom: the buck stops here

colloq
This is where the final responsibility rests.

Etymology: 19c, from buckhorn knife, an item which used to be used as a buck in poker.