Meaning

noun thick end of the handle

noun the part of a plant from which the roots spring or the part of a stalk or trunk nearest the roots

noun a victim of ridicule or pranks

originFrom Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0