Buck, n. [See Beech,
n.] The beech tree. [Scot.]
Buck mast, the mast or fruit of the beech
tree. Johnson.
Buck, n. A frame on which firewood is
sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck.
Buck saw, a saw set in a frame and used for sawing
wood on a sawhorse.
Buck (bŭk), n. [Akin to LG.
büke, Dan. byg, Sw. byk, G. bauche: cf.
It. bucato, Prov. Sp. bugada, F. buée.]
1. Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the
operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed.
2. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed.
[Obs.] Shak.
Buck, v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Bucked (bŭkt); p. pr. & vb. n.
Bucking.] [OE. bouken; akin to LG. büken, Dan.
byge, Sw. byka, G. bauchen, beuchen; cf. OF.
buer. Cf. the preceding noun.] 1. To soak,
steep, or boil, in lye or suds; -- a process in bleaching.
2. To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later
usage, by beating them on stones in running water.
3. (Mining) To break up or pulverize, as
ores.
Buck, n. [OE. buk, bucke, AS.
bucca, bua, he-goat; akin to D. bok, OHG.
pocch, G. bock, Ir. boc, W. bwch, Corn.
byk; cf. Zend būza, Skr. bukka. √256. Cf.
Butcher, n.] 1. The male of
deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and
rabbits.
☞ A male fallow deer is called a fawn in his first year; a
pricket in his second; a sorel in his third; a sore in
his fourth; a buck of the first head in his fifth; and a great
buck in his sixth. The female of the fallow deer is termed a
doe. The male of the red deer is termed a stag or hart
and not a buck, and the female is called a hind. Brande &
C.
2. A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a
dandy.
The leading bucks of the day.
Thackeray.
3. A male Indian or negro. [Colloq. U.S.]
☞ The word buck is much used in composition for the names of
antelopes; as, bush buck, spring buck.
Blue buck. See under Blue. --
Water buck, a South African variety of antelope
(Kobus ellipsiprymnus). See Illust. of
Antelope.
Buck (bŭk), v. i. 1.
To copulate, as bucks and does.
2. To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending
with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said
of a vicious horse or mule.
Buck, v. t. 1. (Mil.)
To subject to a mode of punishment which consists in tying the wrists
together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across
the arms and in the angle formed by the knees.
2. To throw by bucking. See Buck, v.
i., 2.
The brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him
out of the saddle.
W. E. Norris.